The Superpower and the Supernormal:
The Paranormal in History, Science and Popular Culture
May 17 to 22, 2009
Summary Written by Collin Eyre
Introduction
Last May, a group of scholars of religion, parapsychologists, human potential leaders, comic book writers and artists, and literary critics gathered at the Esalen Institute, to explore the interface between the paranormal and popular culture. The idea for this first symposium grew out of Jeff Kripal’s earlier project of writing a history of the Esalen Institute, Esalen: America and the Religion of No Religion. That history, as he writes about, has displayed profound interests in the interface between science and religion (particularly evolutionary biology and quantum physics), in the nature of psychical capacities, and in what Aldous Huxley had earlier called "human potentialities," that is, all those human capacities of mind and body that are richly displayed in the history of religions, animal magnetism, psychical research, and psychiatry, but which appear to be only partially actualized in any particular culture and time.
This year's conference was intended to deepen and develop the discussions that were begun last year. Popular culture remained a major theme but other contexts in which the paranormal is engaged and understood were looked at closely. These other areas of inquiry and discussion included: European and American history, physics, parapsychology, theater, fiction, and film. Additionally, over the course of the week two topics, taboo and transmission, emerged as prominent themes in many of the discussions.
This conference is an integral part of "Sursem," one of the major initiatives of Esalen's Center for Theory and Research. Sursem, the affectionate name for "Survival Seminar," is a collective of neuroscientists, philosophers, historians, and human potential leaders dedicated to the rigorous study and analysis of anomalous or rogue phenomena in the history of human culture commonly labeled "psychical," "occult," or "paranormal." This meeting was held under its auspices as the branch of inquiry dedicated to the cultural aspects and intellectual histories of such phenomena.
Attendees at the conference included:
Conference Facilitators
Jeffrey J. Kripal, the J. Newton Rayzor Chair in Philosophy and Religious Thought in the Department of Religious Studies at Rice University, where he also chairs the department.
Michael Murphy, Cofounder of Esalen Institute and Executive Director of Esalen’s Center for Theory and Research.
Participants
Erik Davis, a teacher, an award-winning journalist and an author of several books including, The Visionary State: A Journey through California’s Spiritual Landscape, and, TechGnosis: Myth, Magic, and Mysticism in the Age of Information.
Collin Eyre, the Esalen Center for Theory and Research Coordinator for this conference.
Mason Gamble, an actor who has appeared in many films and most recently played the lead in the forth-coming film adaptation of Michael Murphy’s book, Golf in the Kingdom.
Mitch Horowitz, the editor-in-chief of Tarcher/Penguin in New York and the author of Occult America: The Secret History of How Mysticism Shaped Our Nation.
Scott H. Jones, a film director and cinematographer, and is working with Jeffrey Kripal on a feature-length documentary based on his latest manuscript on the history of the paranormal and psychical research, Authors of the Impossible.
Christopher Knowles, an illustrator, journalist and author of several books including most recently Our Gods Wear Spandex: The Secret History of Comic Book Heroes.
Edwin May, the Executive Director of the Cognitive Sciences Laboratory, which resides within the Laboratories for Fundamental Research and for twenty years was involved with the U.S. government’s classified research programs into psychic phenomenon.
Doug Moench, an author of novels, short stories, newspaper feature articles, book/movie/record reviews, magazine copy, radio and LP dramas, comic books, syndicated newspaper strips, film screenplays and teleplays.
Dulce W. Murphy, President and Executive Director of TRACK TWO: An Institute for Citizen Diplomacy.
Victoria Nelson, an independent scholar and author of several books including, The Secret Life of Puppets, a study of the supernatural grotesque in Western culture.
Christopher Partridge, Professor of Religious Studies at Lancaster University, UK, co-Director of the Centre for the Study of Religion and Popular Culture at the University of Chester, UK and author of numerous books including, The Re-Enchantment of the West.
Dean Radin, Laboratory Director at the Institute of Noetic Sciences in Petaluma, California and the author of several books including, Entangled Minds: Extrasensory Experiences in a Quantum Reality.
Paul Selig, the director of the MFA in Creative Writing Program at Goddard teacher, a medium and an author of numerous plays.
George Stephanopolous, a film producer who was most recently the executive producer of, Golf in the Kingdom.
Lawrence Sutin, a professor in the Hamline University Graduate School of Liberal Studies and the author of numerous books including, Divine Invasions: A Life of Philip K. Dick.
Alfred Tao, a Development Assistant at Esalen Institute and is the Esalen Staff Representative for this conference.
Jacques F. Vallee, a General Partner of Euro-America Ventures, a technology investment group, and the author of many influential works on the UFO phenomenon including, Dimensions, Revelations and Confrontations.
Monday
First Morning Session
“Occult America – A History” with Mitch Horowitz
One of the more intriguing facets of the occult in the United States is how it has existed within our society in so many areas and times. Far from being something strange and exotic, the occult has been present in American culture from the very beginning. Mitch Horowitz, editor-in-chief of Tarcher/Penguin and author of Occult America: The Secret History of How Mysticism Shaped Our Nation, has done a large amount of research and writing on just this topic and his presentation gave a brief encapsulation of some of his work.
Mitch wrote Occult America both to help normalize the way that occult/metaphysical traditions are seen here in the United States and to point out the tremendous impact they have had on our culture. The occult is defined by him as traditions that are concerned with the concept that there is an unseen world parallel to our own which has its own energies that act upon us or through us. In Mitch's opinion, these occult traditions have an outlook, theology, and ethics that are consistent and relevant to us in the present day. He traces some of the earliest occult groups in the U.S. to immigrants that arrived in here in the latter half of the 17th century after the end of the Thirty Year War in Europe. A few communes were formed by people like Johannes Kelpius and then later Johann Conrad Beissel where people had an interest in and experimented with such esoteric practices as Kaballah, Christian mysticism and alchemy. This belief in the efficacy of religious experimentation continued in various small organizations throughout the 18th century before really exploding during the 19th century in New York in the Burned Over District.
The Burned Over District was the region of western New York state – so-called because it was “burned over” by the spirit (i.e. home to many traveling preachers) - where there was a flourishing of new religious movements throughout the 19th century. Among these groups were: the Millerites, the Latter Day Saints, the Shakers, and the beginnings of the Spiritualist movement with the séances of the Fox sisters. Mitch underscored the idea that the religious novelty of these new teachings reached people in ways that more traditional methods failed at doing. Interestingly, while these movements attracted people who were radical and unorthodox they also had the ability to succeed in the world. These were, by and large, not dreamy individuals who couldn't function. In Mitch's view it was because of this character that they were able to create lasting institutions. Not only is the legacy of all of these groups felt today but they also helped to fashion America as a country of religious experimentation. Mitch also highlighted the concept of transmission. It is curious, he noted, that all of the groups originated in the same area around the same time. People were talking to dead before the Fox sisters, why did their popularity take off when it did? Why them?
Victoria Nelson then asked if new media such as newspapers played a role in the spread of these subcultures. Mitch answered that he thought that this was definitely true. He also saw a facilitating factor in the amount of travel that was taking place through the region at that time. Erik Davis continued in the vein of Victoria's thought, pointing out that there is an interesting resonance between the spirit rapping and the new technology of the telegraph. He pointed out that new relations of mediation create new ways of thinking about things.
Michael Murphy asked if there weren't comparable things going on in Europe. Mitch responded that he drew a distinction between American and European occult groups. In Europe, he said, there is a tradition of initiation. In the U.S. it is more of a “mail-order” model. Michael Murphy then pointed out that this is similar to a difference he sees between American and European esotericists of the present day. The Europeans are more of a “narrow and deep” mindset wanting to keep things hidden and the Americans are “broad and wide” desiring to publicize as much as possible. Jeff Kripal stated that he felt that this was more a question of emic and etic. European scholars wanted to keep that distinction and the Americans weren't as interested in that. Jeff then asked Mitch about the role of publishing and how he decides what to publish. Mitch answered that publishing has definitely played a role in the United States. Manly Hall and Paul Foster Case, amongst many others, wanted to evangelize and created publishing companies in order to do so. As for what he looks for in what to publish, he responded, he looks for sincerity.
Second Morning Session
“Western Occulture - A History” with Christopher Partridge
Christopher Partridge, a scholar of religion who has written extensively on the interface between religion and culture with a particular focus on new religious traditions, presented some of his thoughts on the current arc of religious behavior in the West and the rise of what he terms the occulture. Christopher touched on themes from his two volume work, The Re-enchantment of the West, in which he argues against the secularization thesis in the field of sociology of religion. For years this idea, first proposed by Max Weber, that with the rise of modern society in the West people will naturally turn away from religion, has been the dominant theory. Christopher argued that this was based on a faulty methodology of essentially doing “head-counts” in the pews at Churches. While looking at religious practice in that way will definitely show that Church attendance in Europe is decreasing, a more sophisticated look at the data will show that there has been an increase in alternative religious movements.
Christopher also discussed this increase in newer alternative forms of spiritual expression in terms of the so-called easternization thesis which, as first proposed by Colin Campbell, argues that the West is undergoing a profound shift in its way of thought. People in the West, often due to the influence of beliefs and ideas from the East to some degree, are starting to think in a more holistic way. One can trace this movement back, Christopher's view, to the 19th century and to groups like the Theosophical Society. However, it has not been just a case of the East influencing the West. There were already pre-existing currents of thought, such as the Romantics, who were open to this influence. In Christopher's opinion as we moved into the 20th century this kind of thinking started to influence all of culture. There is an idea that these movements are just a “cultic milieu” that endlessly recycle the same ideas but Christopher argues instead that these are actually more of a living culture, an “occulture,” that has become more and more influential throughout the latter half of the 20th century and carrying on into the present day.
One key, in his view, to the spread and pervasiveness of the occulture is popular culture. People are becoming interested in these ideas after seeing them reflected in television, movies, music and literature. It is easy to find many many examples of people becoming interested in religions like Wicca after seeing them in shows like Buffy: The Vampire Slayer or individuals connecting to pagan spirituality after reading Lord of the Rings and so on. The occulture first really came out of the closet in the sixties by moving into popular culture, and since then it has just become more and more prevalent. These new ideas give people a sense of space and freedom that older more established religions in the West have difficulty providing. Christopher then mentioned that he felt there was often, particularly in the U.S., a sense of crisis surrounding these ideas and this shift in thought. He doesn't, however, share that sense of crisis. We are simply, in his opinion, at the beginning of a process of change.
Dean Radin brought up Richard Dawkins and the new atheist movement and asked how it would be placed in terms of the occulture. Christopher responded that he felt that the new atheism was really a form of fundamentalism and was a backlash to this increasing liberalization of spirituality, or more specifically, a backlash against the shift from “religion” to “spirituality.” Ed May argued that it's not clear if a shift in thought is necessarily better given the existence of damaging cults and other such things. Christopher answered that wasn't arguing that at all but as a sociologist of religion he is merely observing what is happening.
Mitch Horowitz then asked if people who have entered into these ideas through pop culture are really being transformed by them. Christopher responded that they are definitely touched in their lives by these things. In these new religious movements they find both an identity and a culture that they feel comfortable with which can then be both empowering and transformational.
Afternoon Session
Jacques Vallee on the History of Ufology
Jacques Vallee, a seminal figure in the field of Ufology, gave an overview of the history of UFO research which included both case studies and personal observations and conclusions. He began by asking the question, why is this a topic that is hidden in plain sight? Why is this so shunned by most of the scientific community? In part, it is question of communication. Most scientists have not heard of reliable witnesses and the best witnesses do not report what they've seen. Also, the subject and data has become so varied and vast that if you present almost any theory regarding the phenomenon Jacques can prove it if you let him pick the data. Amidst this sea of conflicting information and hypotheses he has tried to stay close to the facts
Jacques presented some initial principles he has come up with, based on his years of research, that he uses to help examine the data. The first is that the phenomenon is researchable with the methodologies of today's science. The second principle is that ideological arguments are premature, the reality of the phenomenon does not imply interplanetary visitation as there is too much we still do no know. Third, we should approach our research into the phenomenon as an opportunity to advance physics. Lastly, the fourth principle is that a visit to the site of a report with knowledgeable guides is always essential.
After giving a brief account of the last sixty years of research into the UFO phenomenon - including some of his own history - Jacques talked about what the little that we do know. It is a robust phenomenon with many complex aspects and it is reported all over the world along the same patterns. Jacques sees it as having six levels of strangeness: the physical, the anti-physical (physically “impossible” occurrences), psychological, physiological, psychic and lastly the cultural. He gave numerous examples of well documented cases which demonstrated the multi-faceted impact the phenomenon has on people. One of the more startling ones he discussed was the so-called Project PRATO occurrence which took place in Brazil in 1977. Thousands of unidentified objects were seen over three months over several islands in the mouth of Amazon River. These were not just lights in the sky however. The reports included many incidents of beams of light coming from the objects and physically burning people. All of this was heavily investigated at the time by the Brazilian Air Force who shut down the air space over the islands for several months and documented the objects extensively with both pictures and film.
Based on cases like this and many others Jacques Vallee has reached some conclusions about the phenomenon and how we can best investigate it. In Jacques’ view the real science has, unfortunately, not been done. Every previous study was doomed from start because they had hidden agendas or preconceived conclusions. Also, the phenomenon has been and probably still is used both for psychological warfare and to cover-up government programs and operations. While there is no question for Jacques that the UFOs are real physical objects they are not necessarily spacecraft. The E.T. hypothesis (that these are aliens from another world visiting our planet) is not the only one and the phenomenon might offer evidence for other dimensions and other ways of thinking about space and time. Lastly, Jacques firmly believes that the solution will not come from ufology but rather from science.
Evening Session
Jacques Vallee on Stained Glass
Jacques gave a short presentation based on a behind-the-scenes visit he made to see how the stained glass was repaired and replaced at Chartres Cathedral in France. While visiting the cathedral he reflected on how there were similarities between stained glass, which was the popular media of its day, and current forms of information technology and communication especially including the Internet.
These similarities include both the capability of providing masses of people with a common experience and the ability to be a universal interpreter of limitless amounts of information. Additionally, they are both able to impact the senses on multiple subtle levels. He also sees similarities between practitioners of these two crafts: the people who originally made the cathedrals and those who have created the Internet. They are both highly skilled and trained craftsmen with a passion for creation. They worked very fast and in very small teams in a fraternal atmosphere with unwritten rules. It is intriguing for him that centuries apart we have created artifacts which have such commonalities. Both cathedrals and the Internet speak to ordinary people at their own levels while they also are able to convey scientific and/or mystical truths. They can both be systems for spiritual contact with the infinite.
Tuesday
First Morning Session
The Endless Waves of Time: Jeff Kripal on Barry Windsor-Smith
Jeff Kripal began by introducing a forthcoming book of his, The Secret Life of a Superpower, which explores mystical themes and paranormal currents in American society. In examining these topics Jeff stated that he is specifically interested in people's experiences and how those inform American religion and culture. When Jeff began his research into comic books he had the belief or intuition that many comic book writers have paranormal experiences which they then code into their writings. Two authors in particular, Otto Binder and Alvin Schwartz, fit this model exactly. Otto Binder wrote most of the Captain Marvel stories in the 1940's and then later Superman. Otto became interested in space and then later UFOs, writing three books on the subject. He also became the biographer and archivest of Ted Owens, an individual who claimed to have psycho-kinetic powers and called himself “PK Man.” Alvin Schwartz, author of many of the Superman newspapers strips in the 1940's, wrote the book, An Unlikely Prophet, which among other things is about Superman being a tulpa, or a living thought-form, which has crossed over into our reality.
Barry Windsor-Smith is another excellent example of a creative person encoding or both working through and dealing with paranormal experiences by means of their art. Barry became famous in the early 1970's through his work illustrating the first twenty-four issues of the comic, Conan The Barbarian. In particular he was well known and appreciated for his very detailed line work. Starting in the summer of 1973, he had a series of remarkable metaphysical openings. What is most intriguing about this, for Jeff, is how intimately these experiences are tied to his drawing.
Barry Windsor-Smith was drawing when he had his first experience. The drawing board dissolved and he had a vision of a traffic jam in what he took to be New York City. Some time later this vision came true as he experienced it in real life. He felt that he was experiencing a “time loop.” This led to a series of increasingly intense metaphysical experiences which culminated in a cosmic vision of there being more than one kind of time. There were, he became convinced, both a regular clock-time and what he termed “Big Time.” He experienced more and more waves of synchronicities and meaning that he called “waves of time.” Finally, it became too much and during one of these events he screamed to try and bring himself back. At that point he felt what he described as a sense of sadness and regret from the energy at his choice to return back to his normal life. Afterwards, Barry also experienced telepathy and psychometry (the ability to know the history of an object just by touching it). He spent the next few decades trying to process this material and came up with elaborate theories about time, language and communication. He wrote about all of this in his two volume work, Opus, published in 1999 and 2001.
Chris Knowles pointed out that these were not the only paranormal events in Barry's life. He also had a close encounter experience with UFO in the 1960's which profoundly impacted him. Mitch Horowitz then asked if these experiences changed Barry in any way. Jeff answered that he had his world view profoundly changed. Jacques Vallee offered that these are shattering experiences for any individual. Over and over again he has seen that people who have these types of events in their lives are permanently changed.
Erik Davis brought up the example of another artist, Rick Griffin, a popular and influential underground artist of the 1960's and 1970's. He started off doing psychedelic influenced material but had a conversion experience to Christianity and then did an illustrated version of the Gospel of John. Jeff concluded by saying that he felt it was very interesting that Barry (and others) have had these experiences while drawing. Perhaps there is some connection between the creative parts of the brain and these kinds of events.
Second Morning Session
The Coming of Valis: Lawrence Sutin on Philip K. Dick
Lawrence Sutin, author of the biography, Divine Invasions: A Life of Philip K. Dick, began his presentation by sharing a humorous anecdote of the last time he spoke in public about Philip K. Dick. It was at a conference in 1991 in England where he was essentially told he was “insane” and “irresponsible” for taking his later work seriously. Lawrence felt so attacked that he left the conference and did not return. He underscored how interesting it is how much Dick’s reputation has changed in the last twenty years. When Lawrence first started reading Dick in the 1970's he met many science-fiction fans and writers who absolutely despised him. Today he is published by Vintage Books and is in the Library of America. Lawrence then highlighted what he felt were two very important themes that he was especially interested in: transmission and taboo. The question of what is accepted and received versus what is rejected and left untouched by society and/or individuals.
The mystical events that took place in 1974 for Philip K. Dick (consisting of among other things a contact experience where Dick became convinced that he was in touch with some form of a higher intelligence) were to some degree, in Lawrence's opinion, a culmination of many themes and ideas that one can see in his writing all the way back to the beginning of his career. The bedrock of Dick's outlook was always that the world is not what it seems and Dick's great strength as a writer is his ability to try on different beliefs. Always somewhat of a social misfit (he had many phobias) Dick was a passionate reader who was most into mainstream literature. He considered the great tragedy of his life was that he did not have mainstream success.
Larry underscored the fact that Dick's mystical experiences never made sense to him. He became, in Larry's opinion, a mystic with no clear message or multiple messages. He was not transformed by these experiences and it is worth noting that his writing was not really changed either. However, he loved thinking about his experiences and it was a great source of material. In attempting to explain these experiences he explored Parmenides, Gnostic Christianity, the possibility that he was a paranoid psychotic and that he was a victim or subject of an ESP experiment. It is also interesting to note, in Lawrence's opinion, what Dick excluded from his exegetical writings given everything else that he tried. He never touched on Western Hermeticism, the occult, or any type of Eastern philosophy.
Erik Davis talked a little bit about some of the things that he found most interesting in Dick, including the repeating motifs of viral themes. In Erik's opinion, these works of Dick's are initiatory and what they initiate you into is a conundrum. One of the motifs is that there are many magic books inside of these books that are read and change the characters. This is especially seen in his book, Valis. The characters go see a movie called Valis in the book which initiates them into a way of reading or seeing things. This, in Erik's opinion is something that Dick does over and over again. He initiates the reader into a way of interpreting his own books. There are also many interesting stories of initiatic experiences, particularly dreams, that fans of Dick have experienced in conjunction with reading his works.
Jeff noted that he felt that Larry had really clearly pointed out what had been emerging as the twin themes of the week, the themes of transmission and taboo.
Afternoon Session
“The U.S. Military and Intelligence Community's ESP Spying Program: STAR GATE” with Edwin May and Viktor Ruebel
Ed May, who was involved with U.S. government research into psychic phenomenon for almost twenty years, gave a presentation focused on the history of those programs and what were some of the conclusions that they had reached. Ed's involvement with this research began in 1975 at SRI International in Palo Alto where he joined a team who were investigating the possibility of anomalous cognition. Anomalous cognition (or A.C. for short) is the acquisition by mental means alone of information that is blocked from the ordinary senses by shielding, distance and/or time. More popularly known as remote viewing, the researchers found compelling evidence for the phenomenon. STAR GATE, the intelligence code word for the program (which was randomly assigned), was tasked with a three fold mission: to gather intelligence, to assess the threat of similar foreign activity and to do applied and basic research. Throughout its history, STAR GATE, had significant military and scientific oversight.
The program experienced many well documented intelligence successes over its almost twenty-two history but everything was highly classified during most of that time. The researchers were unable to admit intelligence activity, name the individuals involved with the program, admit sources of funding or discuss results. It is only in the last decade or so that much of this information has really started to come to light.
After several decades of research Ed is confident in sharing some of the conclusions that he has reached about the phenomenon. The first is that anomalous cognition, in Ed's experience, cannot be trained. Only a small fraction of the population can meet strict laboratory standards for high-quality A.C. Secondly, A.C. correlates with changes in the Earth's electro-magnetic field as well as the position of the Earth in its orbit (local sidereal time). Lastly, In Ed's opinion there may be only one kind of psi. All psychic phenomenon that has been observed may simply be people precognitively experiencing a future moment when they already know the information that they are looking for. Ed suggested that this might be tied to what is called decision augmentation theory, which states that individuals may use their precognition to unconsciously bias any test or situation. Intriguingly, there is also a strong correlation with positive success and the entropic change of the system the test subject is looking for. Over and over again they have had success with looking for underground nuclear tests, particle accelerators and other areas where there is a large entropic change in a short period of time which suggests a connection to some kind of information theory.
After Ed's presentation, Viktor Ruebel, who was involved in the former Soviet Union's psychic research gave a brief history of those programs and talked a little about some of their successes. One major difference between the Soviet program and that of the U.S. is that the Soviets felt that A.C. can be taught. Viktor and Ed are both working together on a forthcoming book detailing the hidden history of psychic warfare between the U.S. and the U.S.S.R.
Evening Session
“I AM THE WORD: A Playwright's Clairaudient Journey” with Paul Selig
Paul Selig, a writer, teacher and medium, gave an account of his personal history both of becoming a medium and his coming to terms with it. He began by noting that this was the first time that he had been introduced in public as a clairaudient. Paul grew up in New York City as an atheist and had a few small anomalous experiences as a child. His breakthrough experience, however, occurred in 1987. On the evening of the Harmonic Convergence he went out on a roof and asked to be “woken up” and he was. He had an experience of energy moving from up from his second chakra and out the top of his head. It lasted for some time and he felt no fear during the experience. It happened again the next day and then after that he began to see lights around people similar to fireflies.
Not sure what was happening and somewhat frightened by the things he was experiencing, he eventually went to an energy healer who told him that she saw them too. This was reassuring to Paul as he now had a context for the phenomenon. He began to work as an energy healer. While he didn't feel like a typical “new ager,” he was able to work with the energy. It was kinesthetic, tactile and very real to him. Over time he also began to develop empathically. One manifestation of this was that he was experiencing “sympathy” pains in advance of seeing clients. Eventually he noticed that when he had his hands on clients he would start to hear things in his head. He began to ask clients about this as it was happening and he learned that these thoughts he heard were actually things connected to them. During this period Paul was also able to find some spiritual mentors and work with them in developing his abilities.
After awhile Paul decided to work with groups as he wanted to continue doing these kinds of practices but no longer felt it was appropriate to touch people. The very first time he did this group work he began to hear things. Initially, Paul had tremendous fear and resistance to this type of phenomenon. Despite this, Paul continued to work in groups and after awhile, he began to make contact with an energy/being that called itself the Word. Paul reacted strongly against this. He broke with his teachers and stopped trying to do this kind of work. He concentrated instead on his playwriting where he explored spiritual and mystical themes. After September 11th he once more started to do group work and again started hearing things from the Word. He stopped smoking at that time and his empathic ability came back stronger than ever before. Over the last few years he has gradually become more and more public about his work as a medium and more comfortable being known for that. In the spring of this year he channeled from the Word a complete manuscript which gives a detailed program of spiritual exercises.
After this brief introduction Paul connected with the Word. The Word then led the group through a brief meditation and energy work.
Wednesday
First Morning Session
“The Synchronicity of Writing” with Doug Moench
In keeping with Jeff's earlier discussion of the link between creativity and the paranormal, Doug Moench's presentation dealt with his personal experiences of synchronicity linked to his writing. Doug Moench, a professional writer for more than three decades, gave several examples of quite startling synchronicities where he wrote something in the script of a story and then had something almost completely identical happen (sometimes at almost the exact same moment). He also shared a story regarding a series of coincidences involving the number twenty-three that happened to him on his twenty-third birthday. Doug felt he wasn't sure why or how these things had happened but only that they were too significant for him to ignore.
Several of the other conference participants then shared similar stories regarding synchronicities and coincidences.
Second Morning Session
“The Synchromysticism of Jack Kirby's Art” with Christopher Knowles
Christopher Knowles, author of Our Gods Wear Spandex: The Secret History of Comic Book Heroes, gave a presentation that also touched on themes of artistic creation and links to paranormal abilities and experiences. Focusing on Jack Kirby, one of the key figures in super-hero comic book history, Chris’ talk highlighted Kirby’s growth as an artist and pointed out some intriguing possible instances of precognition being expressed in his stories and art. Kirby is considered by many to be the man who built the modern super-hero mythos. He was involved with Stan Lee in co-creating the Marvel Comics universe in the late 1950’s including helping to design and create such comics as Fantastic Four, the X-Men, Thor and Captain America.
Kirby was interested in mystic and supernatural themes throughout his career. He visualized these heroic characters as pantheons and usually tried to fashion the stories as epic mythos. While Kirby never used psychedelics or had mystical experiences (to anyone’s knowledge), by the mid-1960’s his art for some reason began a strange metamorphosis. He began depicting energy patterns in his work, the so-called “Kirby-crackle,” and these drawings had striking similarities to many shamanic art traditions. His paranormal themes intensified and became more and more prevalent with story lines involving divine beings clashing across all of space and time and strange visions of the future.
Chris then pointed out many instances of possible precognition in Kirby’s art and story lines including prefigurations of 9/11, the Internet and cyberspace, Kubrick’s film, 2001, (both in images and story), the discovery of a face on Mars, George W. Bush, Saddam Hussein and the second Iraq War among other things. In Chris’ opinion these are evidence of some kind of precognitive ability on Kirby’s part. This ability, however, was probably an unconscious one. While Kirby was connecting to something and seeing flashes of the future, Chris feels, it was not something that he necessarily had an awareness of doing.
Afternoon Session
“Reality 3.0” with Dean Radin
The debate between idealist and materialist visions of reality has a long history in philosophical traditions. While there is little doubt that a materialist paradigm has won over mainstream scientific thinking, Paul Radin, a prominent researcher in the field of parapsychology, suggested during his presentation that data from research into psychic phenomenon combined with cutting edge thought in the field of quantum physics might suggest a new vision of things beyond the reduction of everything to the physical. Paul started by stating that there was absolutely no doubt that psychic phenomenon were real. He gave numerous examples of many studies that showed over and over again that there was a real, measurable, and statistically significant effect. One of the more compelling examples, in terms of the sheer amount of data used, was a meta-study of a standard test of psychic ability. The test, set up so one person was attempting to send one of four randomly assigned images and another person (physically separated and shielded from any normal contact with sender) was attempting to receive it, has a success rate due to chance of 25%. The meta-study, using data from thousands of these tests from the 1920’s until the present day, shows a success rate of 33%.
Dean disagrees with Ed May’s hypothesis that all psychic phenomenon might be due to precognition. By combining his data with research into quantum physics that suggests both that reality is non-local (meaning there can be instantaneous communication between sub-atomic particles that is not restricted to the speed of light) and that the consciousness of an observer has an effect on a quantum system, Dean sees strong evidence for an ontology that is based on consciousness. This, in Dean’s view, represents a new vision of reality that is distinct from previous versions.
Reality 1.0, in Dean’s model, was the perception that reality was living organism plus or minus a few deities. Common sense at this point completely depended on cultural context. Reality 2.0 began, in part, with the Greeks and the idea that reality could be investigated and deduced from observations. These inquiries were among the beginnings of the scientific tradition in the West. Reality 3.0 began by scientists asking the question, “What is light?” Their investigation into this led to the discovery of quantum mechanics and all its ensuing weirdness. After tracing this history, Dean then gave multiple examples of recent experiments in physics that confirm non-localness and the role of the observer in changing quantum systems. The bottom line, for Dean, is that something is definitely happening here and the mainstream scientific world has yet to catch on.
Evening Public Talk for the Esalen Community
Christopher Knowles on the X-Files
One of the more popular -if not the most popular- television series of recent years to deal with paranormal themes, The X-Files has been almost endlessly examined, analyzed and debated by its fans. Christopher Knowles, co-author of The Complete X-Files: Behind the Series, the Myths and the Movies, in his talk given to the Esalen Community on Wednesday evening, revealed that there may be many more layers of occult meaning and symbol hidden within the show than is normally believed to be there. While it is well known that The X-Files had a rich interior mythology that helped to pull viewers into its world, Chris argued that there was also a much more subtle symbolic level at play.
Chris showed numerous examples of characters, scenes and story lines mirroring many different myths especially those from ancient Egypt and Greece. References were made to these mythological tales in the episodes through the use of character names, set design and plot. As one example Chris pointed out episodes where the story of Isis and Osiris, the dying and rising god, was played out and covert allusions were made to this myth through the use of layered symbols. All of this reference to myth, Chris stated, helped to connect people to the show at a subconscious level.
Chris also argued that the creators of the show may have been subtly communicating some of their own beliefs regarding the origins of the human species, the ancient astronaut hypothesis and the role of psychedelics in human evolution. All of this, he felt, is demonstrated in the symbols and myths that are hidden within the series. Intriguingly, Chris pointed out that The X-File’s creators have refused to comment one way or another regarding the mythology of the show or on any overt or covert symbolism that may be there. They seem to prefer that a sense of mystery be maintained and that people come to their own conclusions.
Thursday
First Morning Session
Pop Occulture: Erik Davis on Aleister Crowley and Chaos Magick
Why do figures of seeming occult power hold such fascination in popular culture? Erik Davis, an author, teacher and journalist, examined this issue during his talk. Erik began by discussing issues of taboo, transmission and tradition as they relate to the depiction of the magician in the comic book series, Dr. Strange. Erik pointed out that superheroes do not normally derive their power from transmission but Dr. Strange is an exception. However, it is interesting that Dr. Strange receives a transmission of power but then breaks with it. This somewhat hazy relationship to transmission seems to be a common feature of the image or symbol of a magician. Erik then traced images of the magician in popular culture throughout the 20th century showing how the magician is typically shown as a figure of transmission and tradition but what exactly the nature of this transmission and tradition is is often indistinct or murky. It is precisely this ambiguity, he argued, from which much of cultural force of the figure of a magician derives.
The occult is, for Erik, systems of paranormal experience. What is at issue for him is how one characterize these collective spaces with an image or a guiding metaphor that people can plug into. These images can organize both how people experience their own metaphysical experiences and how they tell their stories. The individual cannot necessarily wrap their minds around these types of paranormal/mystical experiences and in order to do so there is always an interface that is culturally constructed. The metaphysical experience is mapped onto the particular associations and images of any group. The magician (apart from being one who can determine which symbols are used) can be such an organizing figure or symbol.
Erik then discussed how the image of a magician -using examples from popular culture including the figure of Jimmy Page, the guitarist from the band Led Zeppelin- is a place of ambiguity which then becomes a focus of projection on the part of the observer. This projection is then in turn the source of much of the magician's cultural mystique and force precisely because the individual perceiving them is forced to be a participant. Erik also pointed out how this creative, projective force works in various occult systems associated with the Chaos Magick paradigm. These practices in Chaos Magick are felt, by their participants, to be efficacious and powerful precisely because they are open and indeterminate thereby necessarily becoming a place of participant creation.
Second Morning Session
“The Bright God Beckons: The New Paranormal Romance” with Victoria Nelson
As cultures grow and change over time both their symbols and their relationships to them necessarily transform as well. Victoria Nelson, an author and independent scholar, traced in her presentation the evolution in the depiction of the vampire in popular literature and film over the last several hundred years. What she is seeing is marked shift in the sensibility of the Gothic. There is a movement from a sense of darkness to an expansion of the boundaries of what the Gothic can be.
Victoria discussed the origins of the vampire legend, pointing out that they are not indigenous to Western Europe but rather seem to have come out of the south Slavic regions and Greece. She then gave a brief history of their depictions in popular literature throughout the 19th and 20th centuries. In 1976, with the publication of Anne Rice’s novel, Interview With The Vampire, there is a major shift. We see the vampire’s point of view in the story. There is both a sense of there being more “dimensions” and also a sense of ethics on the part of the vampires that hadn’t been seen before. Additionally, the vampires are also shown to be immortal and to have expanded consciousnesses both of which can be seen as a movement towards a divinization of them.
Depictions continued to change over through the 1980’s and 1990’s. Buffy the Vampire Slayer, a popular TV series had as a main character a vampire, named Angel, who was a “good guy.” Other films and TV shows hybridized genres with half-vampires and half-werewolves and many other combinations. Much of this can be viewed, in Victoria's opinion, as attempts to graft the powers of a vampire onto the human. This further changes the meaning of what it means, in our imaginations, to be a vampire.
In recent years there has been an even greater shift with the novels in the Twilight series by Stephanie Meyer. Meyer borrows from all of the old tropes but moves everything in a new direction. With quite a 21st century sensibility (and using some tropes from Mormon esoteric theology) Meyer moves vampires from horror story to fairy tale. Meyer's vampires have almost become angels. For example, rather than bursting into flame their skin sparkles likes diamonds when they are exposed to sunlight. All of this, Victoria argues, is very much a new trend in the Gothic which will eventually overtake the older versions.
Afternoon Session
The Challenges of Producing a Metaphysical Film
Jeff began the round table discussion by stating that the topic here was really once again the paranormal and how it gets translated into popular culture. In particular Jeff saw the pervasive underlying themes of taboo and transmission that Lawrence Sutin brought up in his talk and the tradition piece that Erik Davis added in his as being very pertinent to the discussion. Michael Murphy then identified several issues, in order to help frame the conversation, that surround the making of films that deal with paranormal/mystical experiences. The issues were: ownership (who owns the film?); censorship and control; special effects; and synchronicities.
First off, the issue of who owns the film is a large one. Mike talked about his experience in seeing his novel, Golf in the Kingdom, finally turned into a film after several decades of the rights being owned by different production companies. It takes the right combination of people and events for things to go forward. George Stephanopolous, an executive producer on the film gave some of the back story on how it was that the film finally went into production. Mason Gamble, an actor who plays the lead role (which is based on Michael Murphy) in the film, discussed the necessity of a metaphysical film being made by an independent production company. If it's not made by people with passion for the material there is too much pressure to be commercially successful with the result that messages and themes become diluted. Scott Jones, a filmmaker, pointed out that often films get made by people who have to make those films. It is so hard to make a film, passion is really a necessity.
Once a film starts to get made it becomes a collaborative effort between many many different people which brings up Mike's next issue of censorship and control. Michael Murphy shared a story of realizing that he had to relinquish control of the film to a large degree to the director and the producers. Scott pointed out that this feeling of surrender also extends to the director because there will always be a gap between one's vision and the reality of filming.
Jeff brought up the issue of precedent, of answering the question, “What is this film like?” and of finding support for something that is so different from normal movie fare. George answered that they were fortunate because of the people involved were of such a high caliber. Mason contributed that he felt Golf in the Kingdom's uniqueness was in many ways it's strength. Because it was so different the people involved wanted to be true to that and didn't try to change it too much.
Michael then brought up the third issue of special effects and how can one use them to help try to convey some of the flavor, or sense of, supernormal experiences. Michael talked about how they had many conversations back and forth concerning this. Mason then added that sound in these types of moments is really critical and can help to communicate a great deal. Michael, Mason and George then discussed some of the synchronicities that occurred during the production of the film. Michael also talked about how there is a rich tradition in film of these types of things occurring.
Victoria Nelson then asked Scott and Jeff what sort of narrative spine they were envisioning for their documentary. Scott answered that it would probably have to be a balance between a more straight forward documentary and something more of an experience that would give some of the feel of these paranormal topics. Jeff said that he took comfort in knowing that he had never written a book that turned out the way he thought it would and that he had also never written a book that wasn't really two or three books. His strong suspicion is that they are making not just one film but really two or three films.
Christopher Partridge asked Mason Gamble if he felt that he was inhabiting a new mental space as a result of his experience in working on this metaphysical film. Mason said that he felt that that was absolutely true but that he always invests himself artistically in any role. Closing out the discussion Michael Murphy shared a powerful metaphysical experience he had one night while he was visiting the set. Jeff and Michael then ended things by thanking everyone for a great week of conversation.
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