Wow! I got a reply!
Here's the message I sent:
"Hi Mr. X, I hope that you can help me with this:
"If there is a universal mind, must it be sane?"
-Charles Fort.
I haven't yet read the book but I understand that John
Keel ends 'The Mothman Prophecies' with this quote.
Do you know, off hand, where he got it from?
I don't know if the quote gets used in the movie, we
Brits don't get it until March.
Thanks,
Justin Anstey."
----------------------------
And this is what I got back:
"Dear Mr. Anstey,
I do not recognize the quote as anything from Charles Hoy Fort, nor does a search of some of its elements show up in anything that I've put into my web-site. If it is attributed to "Charles Fort," it might be Fort's
modern namesake, but I very much doubt that. That's one of the reasons why I try to emphasize the "Hoy" in "Charles Hoy Fort."
Searching for the quote itself, I have come upon two sets of sites.
The following site does not state where the quote, given here by Paul Krassner, originates:
http://www.mindfreedom.org/mindfreedom/madpride/boycott.shtml
"What's next for you?" "I'm working on a novel, with this frontpiece quote: 'If there is a universal mind, must it be sane?' Paul edits the classic zine, The Realist. Watch for a piece on healing normality Paul has asked me to write. [This interview was originally published in Dendron News #36.]"
The other site also quotes Keel:
http://www.truthbeknown.com/mysteries.htm
"Our world has two sets of natural laws. One set tells us stupidly simple things about gravity and nature. The other tells us that space and time are constantly distorted in our reality, and that we are all subject to the still undefined laws of that second set."
John Keel
"Probably nothing could ever dislodge sceptics from positions clung to for their very life."
Peter Kosimo
"If there is a Universal Mind, must it be sane?"
Charles Fort
Unless Keel has taken this spurious quote from "Acharya S," my guess is that Keel has misquoted Fort.
I have neither read the novel nor seen the movie. Long ago, I pointed out to Keel some gross errors in his "Strange Creatures from Time and Space," after having looked into the "winged cat" reported near Hawkesbury, Ontario. Keel was satisfied with having written the story up from some newspaper clippings, whereas I spoke with the investigating policeman, dug up the local newspaper reports, and obtained a report from the vetinary laboratory that examined the animal. The poor mangy cat had filthy matted fur, not "wings," and it certainly never flew nor glided about. Thus, I am not likely to take his stories of a "Mothman" very seriously, and, if I do see the movie, I might rent it on video with the "Blair Witch Project," (which I have not seen), with a "second rental free" coupon.
Sincerely,
Mr. X"
