Category Archives: THE OZ FACTORS

“The Oz Factors” is a book which reveals the 12 common denominators of civilization that prevent mankind for discovering workable solutions to the problems of life. The Oz Factors was written by Lawrence R. Spencer and published in 1999.

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MYSTERIES OF LIFE

June 10, 2025 LRS

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Cataclysmic Geology vs. Uniformitarian Geology

“One of the principal reasons that Earth is a rough place to live is illustrated by the argument between Earth scientists who can’t agree on the basic formation of the Earth and the history of its formation.

There are two conflicting schools of thought on the subject of geology, each with their own theories. To better understand them, let’s review some basics on the entire subject.

GEOLOGY is the study of the structure of the Earth’s crust and the formation and development of its various layers, including individual rock types and early life forms found as fossils in rocks.

Based on the most reliable sources of information currently available, the Earth can best be understood as a slightly pear-shaped ball floating in space. It is held in orbit around a star by a balance of gravitational attraction and centrifugal force.

The mean distance of the Earth from its star is 92,897,000 miles. The star (our sun) is itself held in place relative to the Milky Way Galaxy and in turn to the rest of the universe by similar forces.

The Earth is moving through space at the rate of approximately 45,000 mph. The Earth’s orbit around its star is 583,400,000 miles, and the Earth travels along this orbit at a velocity of about 66,000 mph. Earth rotates on its axis once every 23 hours, 56 minutes, and 4.1 seconds. A point on the equator is therefore moving at a rate of a little more than 1,000 mph relative to its axis. The Milky Way galaxy as a whole, however, is moving toward the stellar constellation Leo at about 375 miles per second.

In addition to these primary motions, three other components of the total motion of Earth exist: the precession of the equinoxes, periodic variation in the inclination of Earth’s axis caused by the gravitational pulls of the sun and moon, and variation of latitude.

The cold, rigid, rocky crust of Earth extends to depths of 60 miles. Oceans cover approximately 70 percent of the surface of the Earth. The average depth of the oceans is 12,447 feet, more than five times the average height of the continents.

How stable is the real estate on which we Earth-bound Homo sapiens build our farmhouses?

Earth has a very, very thin outer layer comprised of two shells. The crust and upper mantle surrounds a core that becomes increasingly hot and viscous as you approach the center. The outer crust literally “floats” on top of this molten center.

The inside of Earth is relatively liquid, and the crust is relatively brittle. The crust has developed cracks throughout its entire surface as a result of having cooled down from a previously more liquid state, just like dirt cracks as it dries out in the hot sun. Therefore, this brittle crust has broken up into a dozen or so independently moving pieces called “plates”. Both the land masses and oceans are “floating” on top of these plates. Shearing of these partially molten rocks, which are about 60 miles thick, enables the continents to drift around the Earth’s core.

As the plates move, so do the oceans and land masses. As the plates pull apart from each other,the resulting cracksallow the molten rock underneath to “leak” out. This results in volcanic activity that can create newmountains or land masses. Conversely, the plates crash into, and rub against, each other.The result is an earthquake. And, sometimes new mountain ranges are pushed up or floods occur on the coastlines of land masses.

Considerable evidence from the fossils found in layers of rock around the world demonstrates that the existing continents of Earth were once part of larger land masses, called “super-continents”. Other continents have apparently been submerged beneath oceans, and still others have broken up into smaller pieces through the movement of the plates.

The most obvious evidence of this is that the continents of Africa and South America appear to fit together perfectly when seen from space. Even the mighty Himalayan mountains, the highest mountain chain on the planet, was once submerged beneath an ocean, as demonstrated by many species of trilobite fossils (ancient sea creatures) found throughout the mountains.

The entire contour of the Earth has now been mapped from space by a formerly top-secret Geostat satellite. These maps also show the contours of the ocean floors. Such a global map has recently been declassified and released by the United States Navy, which began the mapping process in 1987, to enable submarines to navigate safely around the world under the ocean. This map clearly shows the “stretch marks” of the planet where the existing continents have separated from each other and where the tectonic plates, or fault lines, exist around the planet.

The theory of Uniformitarian Geology assumes, much like the Theory of Evolution, that Earth spontaneously evolved from a chaotic cloud of cosmic dust particles in an orderly, gradual condensation, and continued through a progressive succession of small changes that have resulted in the existing lay of the land. (Of course, they do not say where the original “cosmic dust” came from. We’re supposed to assume that it was just there already.)

The theory of Cataclysmic Geology, on the other hand, assumes that the Earth was created and has progressed through a series of sudden disastrous concatenations which make living on planet Earth a very temporary, risky and unpredictable proposition:

1/ The magnetic poles of the planet shift periodically.

2/ The position of the land masses change continually and suddenly.

3/ Mountain ranges rise and fall.

4/ Ice ages come and go.

5/ Changing levels of the oceans flood the land randomly.

All together, the life forms of Earth have a rough time as the result of volcanoes, floods, ice ages, temperature changes, earthquakes, tidal waves, drifting land masses and the resulting famine and pestilence which ensue.

The less-than-exact science of Geology is subject to the same pitfalls of illogical thinking which seem to exist in the Land of Oz. Both sides of the argument are looking for an unobtainable absolute law of some sort. As usual, both schools of thought are missing information, have false information, and can’t get their dates straight. Each side of the argument is limited by its own assumptions and vested interests.

A workable solution to the mysteries of Geology probably lies somewhere in between and/or beyond the conflicting theories of Cataclysmic vs. Uniformitarian Geology.”

— Excerpt from THE OZ FACTORS, by Lawrence R. Spencer

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THE LOGIC OF FLYING MONKEYS

May 31, 2025 LRS

Republished by Blog Post Promoter

An Excerpt from Chapter 5 of the book “THE OZ FACTORS” by Lawrence R. Spencer

THE LOGIC OF FLYING MONKEYS

“Silence, whippersnapper! The beneficent Oz has every intention of granting your requests. But first you must prove yourselves worthy by performing a very small task. Bring me the broomstick of the Witch of the West!”–The Great and Powerful Oz in ‘The Wizard of Oz’

“But if we do that, we’ll have to kill her to get it … “–The Tin Man

“Bring me her broomstick and I’ll grant your requests! Now, go!”–The Great and Powerful Oz

“But what if she kills us first?”–The Lion

“I said GO!”–The Great and Powerful Oz

A–REMEMBER THE RUBY SLIPPERS!

The admonition Glinda gives to Dorothy about the Ruby Slippers is worth remembering: “Remember, never let those Ruby slippers off your feet for a moment, or you’ll be at the mercy of the Wicked Witch of the West.”

Wicked Witches are an obvious source of danger, but how about the “great and powerful” leaders who are supposed to guide and protect us? How often have such men proven to be good leaders? What kind of “Ruby Slippers” do we have in real life to protect ourselves from the Great and Powerful Oz?

Dorothy and her friends, like most of the people of planet Earth, wish there were an Emerald City with a wise and wonderful wizard to care for and protect them behind the safe and secure walls where everyone enjoys opulent prosperity and lives happily ever after.

As they run across the poppy field toward the Emerald City, a chorus of angelic voices sings of the promise of a utopian life beyond the glistening green gates:

“You’re out of the woods, you’re out of the dark, you’re out of the night. Step into the sun, step into the light. Keep straight ahead for the most glorious rays on the face of the Earth or the stars. Hold on to your breath, hold on to your heart, hold on to your hope. March up to the gate and let it open … ”

If these promises were true, the Emerald City would be Utopia and its leader might be called a “benevolent dictator”. What’s so great about a benevolent dictator?

A political leader or god, theoretically, is supposed to be a wise, powerful and caring father figure with no vested interest other than to protect and propagate the highest, most survival interests of the people under his care. This leader’s job would minimally include:

1/ Defense of the people against enemy attacks with minimal destruction to their homeland.

2/ Justice, fairly administered.

3/ Order maintained throughout the land.

4/ Prosperity, longevity and peace as the routine state of affairs.

5/ Natural resources managed to benefit the greatest good for the greatest number of beings, which would include ALL life forms.

6/ Crime punished and production rewarded.

With such a ruler, a sparkling, majestic, Emerald City full of happy, productive beings, who really could sing, “that’s how we laugh the day away in the merry old Land of Oz,” might actually be possible.

However, the Wizard of Oz is not a benevolent dictator after all. As we finally learn at the end of the movie, the closest thing to a benevolent dictator in the Land of Oz is Glinda, the Good Witch of the North, who is a tough defender of the Munchkins against the evil antics of the Wicked Witch sisters.

Glinda is what every Earthling could ever hope for in a leader. She is impervious to attack. She handles the threats against Dorothy from the Wicked Witch of the West with a curt, “Oh, rubbish! You have no power here! Be gone, before someone drops a house on you, too!” And, she saves Dorothy from the inept balloon bumbling of the Wizard of Oz who betrays his promise to get her safely back to Kansas.

Glinda, the ever-watchful guardian, is always there when there is trouble, floating in and out in her flying bubble, breaking the evil spells of the Wicked Witch with an impromptu snowstorm.

Glinda is always cheerful, never has a hair out of place and seems to have a workable solution for every problem.

In the end, it is Glinda who finally guides Dorothy back to Kansas with just the right balance of insightful prompting, allowing Dorothy to use her own ability to create her own universe. In short, Glinda is the perfect leader.

However, much to our dismay and disappointment, the political scam of Professor Marvel, who masquerades as a “Wizard” in Oz, is much more typical of the kind of devious and incompetent rulers we have on Earth.

B–GREEN-COLORED GLASSES MAKE THE POWERFUL LOOK GREAT

“I am Oz, the great and powerful! Who are you?”–The Wizard in ‘The Wizard of Oz’

“If you please, I am Dorothy, the small and meek.”–Dorothy

“SILENCE!”–The Wizard

In the original book by L Frank Baum, ‘The Wonderful Wizard of Oz’, the Wizard created the illusion of Emerald City with a stupid trick–he simply gave all the native inhabitants a pair of glasses with green-colored lenses! One would think that the citizens of this Emerald City would laugh at such an absurd control tactic and just throw the bum out. After all, they were getting along quite well before the Wizard ever showed up!

The sad situation in the real world, is that so many people voluntarily wear green-colored glasses and agree that everything they see is rosy!

It could be said that we create the government we get.

The history of Earth is littered with the ruins of civilizations that never achieved anywhere near a Utopian existence and were devastated for want of benevolent leaders like Glinda. There have certainly been enough dictators, but most of them have been nothing more than self-serving, thieving, war-mongering maniacs.

The most glorified and venerated leaders in history are often those who have been the least benevolent and the most destructive to life, property and sanity.

As with all politicians, Dorothy and her traveling buddies find out too late that the Wizard has been grossly misrepresented as a trustworthy leader. He can’t deliver on the promises he makes, so in order to save himself from political scandal he sends Dorothy off to do battle with the enemies of the Emerald City: the Wicked Witch and her Flying Monkey minions. He puts up a clever facade of political slogans, threats, rhetoric, costumes and technical trickery to cover his own cowardice and incompetence. He even keeps his balloon hidden nearby so he can make a quick getaway when the Wicked Witch shows up. He’s just another bombastic, political, side-show huckster from Kansas looking for a free ride on the backs of the citizens of Emerald City. He behaves in much the same way as many Earth politicians and militarists who, by birth, bribery or back-stabbing, have gained positions of power throughout our less than glorious history.

Why does it take a dog like Toto to pull back the all-too-obvious curtain of pretense behind which political and military leaders hide?

Being a dog, Toto can smell the cowardly Wizard behind the curtain. But more importantly, he is free of the vested interests that make humans vulnerable to politicians.

The same old, timeworn Yellow Brick Road has been trod by nearly every “leader” in the battered history of planet Earth. Taxation, slavery, “voluntary donations” and other forms of legalized theft have been the stock in trade of politicians and priests throughout the ages. Of course, all of this financial coercion is made possible through the use, or threat, of military force.

What keeps humankind from banding together to overthrow, or to just simply ignore, the perpetual scam of politics?

Perhaps, like the “lobster syndrome”, the condition does not improve because people are too busy dragging each other down into the boiling caldron of economic necessity. They do not have enough time or attention to notice that they are all about to be cooked alive and eaten up by the politicians who got them into the hot water in the first place! (Not to mention the bankers who own the fuel, the stove, the cooking pots and the water!)

Thousands of years of such insanity has convinced us that politics and military coercion are the normal way of life. Consequently, Homo sapiens logic has long dictated that the use of force is the only guarantee of survival. Brawn is better than brains! Wisdom is for wimps! Might makes right!

The use of force, however, usually has two nasty side effects, among others: death and destruction.

1/ SEEING REASON

“Oh, please give me back my dog!”–Dorothy

“Certainly–certainly–when you give me those slippers.”–The Wicked Witch

“But the Good Witch of the North told me not to.”–Dorothy

“Very well. Throw that basket in the river and drown him.”–The Wicked Witch

“No! No! No! Here, you can have your old slippers–but give me Toto!”–Dorothy

“That’s a good little girl. I knew you’d see reason!”–The Wicked Witch in ‘The Wizard of Oz’

The Logic of Force mandates that “seeing reason” is the same as “knowing what’s good for you”. When one relies on the use of force, rather than wisdom, quantity is more important than quality. Bigger is Better. Big Business. Big Guns. Big Tits. Big Box Office. The physical universe is viewed as something to be conquered by force. The only god worth worshipping is gold. The only goal worth achieving is the accumulation of gold, strength and power. The Yellow Brick Road, we are indoctrinated to believe from birth, is paved with gold. Yet, when we die, we can’t take it with us.

Supposedly, the god or gods in the afterlife do not judge you by how much gold you have. However, the priests of Earth, who want you to think that they intercede with the god(s) on your behalf, will judge you according to how much of your gold you give to them!

The heroes of civilization, at least in the eyes of historians, are the men who most exemplify the “logic of force”.

The traditional role of the politicians of Earth is exemplified by the song the Cowardly Lion sings: “If I were King of the Forest, not queen, not duke, not prince, my regal robes of the forest would be satin: not cotton, not chintz. I’d command each thing, be it fish or fowl, with a woof and a woof, and a royal growl. As I click my heels all the trees would kneel and the mountains bow and the bulls cow-tow and the sparrow would take wing. If I, if I, were King. Each rabbit would show respect to me, the chipmunks genuflect to me. Then my tail would lash, I would show compash for every underling! If I, if I were King, just King.”

Regal robes, indeed! The Lion won’t settle for fabric of the peasantry. He doesn’t want cotton or chintz–he wants satin! And he wants red velvet carpeting rolled out in front of him and a golden crown placed on his head. And of course, a jewel-studded scepter! But, most of all, he wants homage and subjugation from his underlings.

It’s a canned formula from one historical period to the next. Earth is strewn with the ruins of artfully sculpted architectural monuments, statuary and tombs that have been built and dedicated by some self-aggrandizing warrior-politician. Politicians or warrior-kings enlist the aid of the best artists, poets, architects, songwriters and performers that taxes and plunder can buy to spell out G-L-O-R-Y for themselves.

Politicians convince people to buy propaganda campaigns for self-serving vested interests using aesthetics to cover up the grim, dismal truth: they are sending the peasants off to kill and steal from each other so they (the politicians) can make a profit for themselves from the plunder. Just like the Wizard of Oz sending Dorothy on a quest to bring back the broomstick of the Wicked Witch. He didn’t have the guts to go and get it himself!

Like Professor Marvel posing as the Great and Powerful Oz, many of the most famous leaders in history hid themselves behind a curtain of aesthetic lies. When Toto pulls back the curtain, what kind of man hides behind the illusion?”

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MY PERSONAL READING LIST

May 31, 2025 LRS

Republished by Blog Post Promoter

Decline and Fall of Rome

Here is a list books I read (I usually listen to the audiobook version) during the last two years (in no particular order). There may have been others, but these are most worthy of mention. I have read many of these books more than once, as I consider them to be seminal works of English literature, or fundamental to an understanding of Life, Universes and Other Stuff.

I have discovered that not all “spiritual” books are necessarily spiritual. Likewise, I find that some books in the science fiction and history genre reveal a profound

understanding of the nature andbehavior of humans. For example, there is no doubt in my mind that foibles and follies described in The Decline and Fall of The Roman Empire, by Edward Gibbon reveal in painfully absurd detail the reality that the humans who populate modern Western civilization of Europe and the United States are the very same beings who built and destroyed the civilizations of Rome and it’s immediate predecessor, Greece. And, we are the very same spiritual beings who build and destroy every civilization, life after life, again and again, in the Eternal Now.

The more things change, the more humans remain the same. If you have read the book Alien Interview, you will understand the cyclical nature of human insanity and the wicked wizards and witches
behind the “curtain of lies” that perpetuate our stupidity, brutal depravity and the inability to confront the evil beings who perpetuate our pain. Factually, the serpentine parasites who enslave the “untouchables of Earth” are terrified that innocent and honest inquiries of children and small dogs will expose and depose them from their brutal thrones of power, control and possession of the physical universe, without which they would perish in the frigid, eternal dark from which they were spawned! Likewise, The Age of Reason, by Thomas Paine and the books of E.E. Doc Smith and Robert Heinlein reveal profound understandings of philosophy and spirituality that are forbidden, and unknown, in religious texts on Earth. Reading the autobiographies of Yogananda, and Gandhi, and Nikola Tesla and Mark Twain exposed me to “Spiritual Skyscrapers” who tower with magnificent wisdom and courage above the barren landscape of human inhumanity.

Such beings, who demonstrate the most powerful empathy for their fellow beings, are magnified in contrast to a race of spiritual monstrosities (the “Edorians” of The Lensman Series, for example) as elucidated with demonic eloquence by Hitler in Mein Kampf. Although the “bad guys” are just as powerful and “intelligent” as any “good guy” they are utterly and irreversibly antipathetic to every spiritual entity in every universe, including themselves! I suspect that the game of “good guys” versus “bad guys” is simply an eternal, intergalactic struggle for survival between two equally opposed races of spiritual beings who originated in different times and places, but who now coexist in the space / time continuum of the physical universe.

Alien Interview cover Personally, I have grown weary of mortal games. I write books that suggest alternatives to the physical universe logic of dichotomies: life /death, good /bad, black / white, life / death, up /down, in / out, etc.,. I prefer the “illogic” of immortal spirits, infinite possibilities and unlimited imagination! Life, and Universes, and Other

Stuff are created from and sustained by the “no-thing” of Eternal Spiritual Beings. However, I have read that the spiritually ignorant physicists of western universities are finally beginning to “grok” that Quantum Mechanics has been known and understood by the Vedic sages and gurus of India for more than 10,000 years. Light, energy, matter, forms and spaces are contrivances of our own imaginations.

In spite of all the books I’ve read, I have, as yet, not discovered the solution to escaping the “Wheel of Life”, or the Cycle of Birth and Death. I hope that the books I am planning to read during the next year will provide me with some real answers, as I’m not getting any younger. Religious lies and rhetoric notwithstanding, not a single author of a book I’ve read has died and returned to tell us how to “escape from Earth”. If you have read a book that verifiably solves this problem, please let me know. I will add it to my list of “must read” books.

— Lawrence R. Spencer. October, 2013.

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The History of The Decline and Fall of The Roman Empire (Unabridged), by Edward Gibbon

The Moon is a Harsh Mistress, by Robert Heinlein

The Cat Who Walked Through Walls, by Robert Heinlein

Strangers in A Strange Land, by Robert Heinlein

Animal Wise: The Thoughts and Emotions of Our Fellow Creatures, by Virginia Morell

The Art of Happiness, by Howard C.Cutler, with the Dalai Lama

Mein Kampf, by Aldolph Hitler

Vermeer: Portraits of A Lifetime, by Lawrence R. Spencer

The Skylark of Space: Skylark Series #1, by E.E. Doc Smith

Skylark Two, by E.E. Doc Smith

Skylark of Valeron (#3), by E.E. Doc Smith

Skylark DuQuesne: Skylark Series #4, by E.E. Doc Smith

The Lensman Series, (6 books) by E.E. Doc Smith

Triplanetary

First Lensman

Galactic Patrol

Gray Lensman

Second Stage Lensman

Children of The Lens

The Spacehounds of IPC, by E.E. Doc Smith

The Oz Factors, by Lawrence R. Spencer

Good Omens, by Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett

Valis, by Philip K. Dick

Alien Interview, Edited by Lawrence R. Spencer

The Dying Earth, by Jack Vance

An Autobiography: The Story of My Experiments with Truth, by Mohandas (Mahatma) K. Gandhi

1,001 Things to Do While You’re Dead: A Dead Persons Guide to Living, by Lawrence R. Spencer

The Bhagavad Gita, by Phoenix Books , Barbara Stoler-Miller (translator)

The Big Bleep: Mystery of A Different Universe, by Lawrence R. Spencer

Wizard: The Life and Times of Nikola Tesla: Biography of a Genius, by Marc J. Seifer

Autobiography of a Yogi, by Paramahansa Yogananda

Our Occulted History: Do the Global Elite Conceal Ancient Aliens?, by Jim Marrs

My Inventions, by Nikola Tesla

Flatland, by Edwin A. Abbott

Sherlock Holmes: My Life, by Lawrence R. Spencer

Ubik, by Phillip K. Dick

Vermeer: Portraits of A Lifetime, by Lawrence R. Spencer

The Minotaur Takes a Cigarette Break: A Novel, by Steven Sherrill

Winter of the World: The Century Trilogy, Book 2, by Ken Follett (partial)

Coming of Conan The Cimmerian, by Robert E. Howard

A Game of Thrones: A Song of Ice and Fire, Book 1, by George R. Martin

The Dispossessed: A Novel, by Ursula K. Le Guin

The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo: The millennium Trilogy, Book 1, by Steig Larsson

The Vortex Blaster, by E.E. “Doc” Smith

The Republic, by Plato

Fall of Giants: The Century Trilogy, Book 1, by Ken Follett

The Confession: A Novel, by John Grisham

Sherlock Holmes: My Life, by Lawrence R. Spencer

Anansi Boys, by Neil Gaiman

Enders Game, by Orson Scott Card

Autobiography of Mark Twin (Unabridged), by Mark Twain

American Gods, by Neil Gaiman

Tao Te Ching: A New English Version, by Loa Tzu, translated by Stephen Mitchell

The Story of Philosophy: The Lives and Opinions of the Greater Philosophers, by Will Durant

You See But You Do Not Observe, by Robert J. Sawyer

The Age of Reason, by Thomas Paine

The Complete Stories of Sherlock Holmes, Volume 1 and 2, by Arthur Conan Doyle

The Valley of Fear, by Arthur Conan Doyle

His Last Bow, by Arthur Conan Doyle

The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle

Under the Dome, by Stephen King

The Rape of The Mind: The Psychology of Thought Control, Menticide, and Brainwashing, by Joost A. M. Meerloo, M.D.

The Cultural Cold War: The CIA and the World of Arts and Letters, by Frances Stonor Saunders

The Magus of Strovolos: The Extraordinary World of a Spiritual Healer, by Kyriacos C. Markides,

1984, by George Orwell

Animal Farm, by George Orwell

The Foundation Trilogy, by Isaac Asimov

The Rise of The Fourth Reich, by Jim Marrs

The Face, by Dean Koontz (and, about a dozen of his other books in years past! )

Meditation on Living, Dying and Loss, by Graham Coleman with the Dalai Lama

Tick Tock, by James Patterson and Michael Ledwidge

Frankenstein or The Modern Prometheus, by Mary Shelley

The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, by Robert Louis Balfour Stevenson

Treasure Island, by Robert Louis Balfour Stevenson

Dracula, by Bram Stoker

INSIDE THE BOOK, READING MATTER, THE OZ FACTORS

EVERYTHING LOGIC

May 16, 2025 LRS

Republished by Blog Post Promoter

A–“WHICH IS THE WAY BACK TO KANSAS?”

“I’d give anything to get out of Oz altogether, but which is the way back to Kansas? I can’t go the way I came.”–Dorothy

“The only person who might know would be the great and wonderful Wizard of Oz himself. He lives in the Emerald City and that’s a long journey from here. Did you bring your broomstick with you?”–Glinda, the Good Witch of the North

“No, I’m afraid I didn’t.”–Dorothy

“Well then, you’ll have to walk. It’s always best to start at the beginning and all you do is follow the Yellow Brick Road.”–Glinda in ‘The Wizard of Oz’

One of the primordial questions Dorothy was trying to answer in ‘The Wizard of Oz’ was, “which is the way back to Kansas?”

Trying to figure out the answers to the mysteries of life here on planet Earth is even harder than Dorothy trying to get back to Kansas–none of us have a broomstick to ride, we don’t have a good witch to ask for directions and there is no Yellow Brick Road to follow. So, we’re stuck here having to figure it out for ourselves, logically, using the information we have in our environment.

To begin at the beginning, the Land of Oz is a type of Universe. According to Webster’s Dictionary, a universe is defined as: “an area, province or sphere, as of thought or activity, regarded as a distinct, comprehensive system or world.”

The physical reality we all share on Earth and everything throughout the surrounding space is called the Physical Universe (PU).

On the other side of reality is your own imagination, your personal perceptions, viewpoints, dreams, hopes, desires, and creations, which comprise Your Own Universe (YOU).

The Land of Oz can be considered to be a Universe dreamed up by Dorothy, as conceived in the mind of L Frank Baum, the author of the book. (It has been speculated that the author created the “Land of Oz” after glancing at his file cabinet. The two file drawers were labeled “A-N” and “O-Z”. Dorothy could just as easily have been transported by the author’s pen into the imaginary “Land of AN”.)

In the movie version of the story, Dorothy creates the Land of Oz in a dream, induced by a knock on the head, using remnants of Kansas in the physical universe mixed together with creations from her own universe–which, for Dorothy, existed over the rainbow in the Land of Oz.

Every Universe seems to be made up of its own, peculiar set of Laws. The PHYSICAL UNIVERSE, for example, is built on a set of agreed upon Laws. A few examples of these Laws are:

The Law of Motion: “For every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction.”

The Food Chain Law: “In order for one life organism to live, another life organism must die.”

The Law of Gravity: “Whatever goes up, must come down.”

The Law of Time: “Time marches on.”

Most of us take the Laws of the Physical Universe for granted because everyone seems to agree with them. However, such laws leave a lot to be desired when compared to the Laws of a Universe we might create for ourselves!

In YOUR OWN UNIVERSE you can create any set of Laws, or have no Laws at all. You can make them, change them or break them. The Laws of YOUR OWN UNIVERSE can be anything or nothing, limited only by your imagination.

In YOUR OWN UNIVERSE, everything you wish comes true, because you are the “wizard” of YOUR OWN UNIVERSE!

In Dorothy’s universe, Scarecrows and trees can talk; witches can be beautiful and fly in magic bubbles; Munchkin girls join the “Lullaby League” and Munchkin boys have a “Lollipop Guild”; horses can change their color; and, Dorothy can dye her eyes to match her gown.

Dorothy’s first awareness of the particular universe she calls the Land of Oz is the realization that she is definitely NOT in Kansas. When she opens the door to her farmhouse, which has just crash-landed in Oz, Dorothy compares her past experience in Kansas with her present experience in Munchkinland. The Technicolor flowers, a good witch in a flying bubble, all the little brightly dressed people, a yellow brick road, etc, are definitely NOT similar to anything she has ever seen in Kansas.

The Land of Oz is an example of what Earth scientists would call an anomaly. For Dorothy, the anomaly is a departure from the usual arrangement of things as compared to her past experiences. In the universe of Oz, everything is so completely different from the universe Dorothy is familiar with in Kansas that she thinks she is lost.

How do you find the way back home when you are lost?

One way is to ask someone for directions. Of course, if you’ve ever been sent on a wild goose chase by a stranger, the experience taught you that it is a good idea to be somewhat selective as to whom you ask for directions. So, how do you know who is a reliable source of directions or information?

Perhaps it would be a good idea to find out something about the person from whom you are asking directions before you act upon what they tell you. Right? (Or, is it left?)

In our example, should Dorothy be asking for directions back to Kansas from the local natives, the Munchkins?

The main reason one would ask a local resident for directions is that one makes the assumption, otherwise known as an hypothesis (which is the first step in creating any scientific theory), that someone who lives in the area will be a reliable source of information and will give correct directions.

Well, in Dorothy’s case, the Munchkins have lots of familiarity with the Land of Oz, but they have no familiarity with Kansas. Fortunately for Dorothy, they are honest enough to tell her that they don’t have a clue where Kansas is, and they pass the buck to the Wizard of Oz, who they believe knows everything. And, based on their familiarity with the Yellow Brick Road and Munchkinland, they are certain that it leads to where the Great Oz lives.

Most would agree that a certainty is better than an assumption. When one has no familiarity based on personal experience or observation, it is best not to assume that one knows the correct directions. So, one asks for information from someone one believe knows–like a scientist, for example–who is supposed to be familiar with the area or subject in question.

Do the local Munchkins or local scientists of Oz give Dorothy the correct directions to help her get back to Kansas?

When Dorothy crash-landed her house in Munchkin City, the Munchkins cowered under the bushes and flowers in terror of retribution for the death of the Wicked Witch of the East from her mean, nasty, ugly sister, the Wicked Witch of the West.

Their benevolent, all-powerful protector, Glinda, the Good Witch of the North, who the Munchkins trust implicitly, is not much help in solving Dorothy’s problem, either. To begin with, Glinda does not have all the information regarding the situation, because she was not even there when Dorothy crashed her house into Munchkin City and inadvertently killed a wicked witch.

Undaunted by her lack of factual information, the first thing Glinda does after coaxing the Munchkins out from their hiding places, is to sing them a song about her assumption, or hypothesis, regarding Dorothy’s crash-landing. She sings: “Come out, come out, wherever you are, and meet the young lady who fell from a star. She fell from the sky, she fell very far, and ‘Kansas’ she says, is the name of the star.”

So, where did Glinda get the idea that Dorothy came from a star? Dorothy never said that she came from a star! But, somehow this all seems very logical to the Munchkins. Even Dorothy doesn’t object to Glinda’s false statement!

In our analogy, Glinda’s assumption that Dorothy fell from a star could be called a scientific theory. The theory proposed by the Good Witch of the North is that Kansas is a star! This theory is based on an assumption derived from an apparent anomaly as measured against her own personal experience and by information received from the Munchkins who are supposed to be a reliable source, but, who did not actually see the house crash because they were all in hiding. In truth, none of them have any familiarity with Kansas or cyclones or farm houses or dogs or little girls, either!

To complicate matters further, Glinda has to put on the appearance that she knows what she’s talking about in front of all her Munchkins followers, even though she is really just making a wild guess. After all, she has a very good job being the protector of the Munchkins, who appear to be utterly defenseless against their enemies, the Wicked Witch sisters. Anyway, Glinda is a good witch, which means she is probably really trying to help, so, they all believe her scientific theory that Dorothy has fallen from a star.

In their cute little minds, the Munchkins have accepted, without question, the logic, which underlies the assumption that is the basis of Glinda’s scientific theory:

SKY equals VERY FAR equals STAR equals KANSAS.

This kind of reasoning process could be called “Everything Logic”; i.e., Everything Equals Everything. This sort of logic might also be the definition of stupidity.

Example: If KANSAS equaled SKY equaled STAR, one could theoretically gaze up into the heavenly firmament to watch Kansas cattle grazing on the twinkling prairies in the stars above.

Unfortunately, much of what we call “science” on planet Earth is based on “Everything Logic”.”

— Excerpted from THE OZ FACTORS, by Lawrence R. Spencer