Statement: They mean no harm, nor do they seek to interfere (which
is strictly forbidden) or change anything. They just want to see
what it was like in our time.
You can find them in many places, scattered throughout decades
of literature. You can find them in Philip K. Dick1
, in the Lovecraft2 universe and even in Shakespeare
3 . Those who descend amongst us, who occupy space
which should be free
We know them as visitors (though not
Q, a double entendre if nothing else). It is unfortunate that
I must refer to "them" as them, but due to the despairing
lack of credible eye-witnesses and accounts of visitations, as
well as a general lack of their origin.
Before we press on, I would just like to preface what is to come.
This is intended to be a accessible account of "visitations",
for lack of a suitable lingua franca word to reach the
masses, with as few academic and specific terms as possible. If
you want to read more about this phenomenon, I would recommend
my own forthcoming thesis, "Disjuncts throughout History:
Temporal Distortions and Visitations of Supraconcious Entities",
which is as far as I know the only academic study of the phenomenon.
It will be available the coming spring through the recently inaugurated
Studies on Abnormal Phenomenon at Sussex University Press, U.K.
(see: http://www.sussex.ac.uk
for upcoming announcements and information). And if you are wondering
why you are reading this here, in a fairly unconventional place
for such an essay, there is a perfectly sound answer. This essay
has been simultaneously submitted to as many publishers, magazines
and publications as possible, to spread the word.
Now, let us do away with preconceptions at once. I have never
met one, or ever felt the presence of one. If you have, I would
very much like you to contact me with any information you may
have, as I need many more accounts of visitations. It is clear
that they believe empirical studies are the best way to
learn. Their travelling obviously works in a completely different
manner than anything we have encountered. I postulate that it
is not a "device", but moving thoughtthus it is
not, but has the same effect, as those Neurograft devices you
came across every once in a while if you read sci-fi (e.g. Sturgeon4)they
travel by means of evolved consciousness, constituted by the septdependant
brain centres. Technological advance certainly is of interest,
perhaps a necessity, for travelling: Good Mother Nature certainly
did not grant us gifts in many other areas than the mind, and
that is subject to debate, so to employ advancements of mind (culture,
psychology, philosophy, etc.) to improve our somatic state seems
to be the right way to advance into the era envisioned by Nietzsche,
whose philosophy of Übermensch and its relation to
the visitors I deal with at length in chapter 4 of the thesis.
Returning to actual travelling itself; I call it Illusory Unalloyed.
This term might confuse readers, so allow me to briefly elaborate:
it describes "lucid" thoughts as a crown of thorns,
i.e. a sort of suppressant of thoughts not dealing with physical
reality, i.e. thought-beyond-thoughtI don't really know
how to make it any clearer in such short spaceand that is
most likely how they travel. I contradict myself, I know. You
must have noticed or you were not reading carefully enough. I
will not elaborate; go back if you missed it. I'm not trying to
be snide or anything but do not wish to be condescending and repeat
myself, slowing down this piece of writing, especially since many
readers might have noticed the contradiction already.
No matter, I study this phenomenon, and I freely admit that much
of it is speculative, since no facts can be established an
sich, to borrow a term from Kant, in which case I would
receive a visit in order to set things right. I am still writing;
I take it that I am not close enough to the truth. Maybe they
are watching right now? I am sitting. Your position is of no consequence
to me, but if you insist, tell me. Say it. Out loud. Do it. I
dare you. Though we may move throughout time and space for who-knows-for-how-long,
the thoughts communicated here are some indication of what we
can do when we are them. For we will be them, someday.
Not we personally, not you or I, but that is the closest I can
think which can serve as a taste of things to come.
Do it.
Say it.
Announce it.
Don't care about who hears it.
Feel it runningOh, you have done it already. If you have
not, I will not press the matter further, but you are missing
out.
That antagonistic challenge does serve a purpose, for it illustrates,
in a primitive way, the ability to move thoughts through time
and space even with our limited technology and neurology, something
writers have discovered since writing began. This noumenal
experience exists in other forms and is described from various
sources, from inhibited higher brain functions as in experienced
connexion with the Atma5, through various (credible)
mind over matter depictions, through Western concepts commonly
associated with "soft" Science Fiction as precognition,
telepaths and empaths, even the occult and magic are related.
Returning from the test of reader response, I will quickly summarise
the chapters of my upcoming thesis. As stated before, the ability
to thrust consciousness back and forth in time is distinctly and
exclusively human and whether this god-like ability has been achieved
through technological or neurological advance or evolution is
obviously impossible to say, and regardless which one, or a synthesis,
makes this possible, the concepts are, even if possible to grasp
today, not available to us and impossible to extrapolate from
any data I have access to.
For those questioning if "they" are human, you can
calm down knowing that I have found no indication to the contrary:
It has no other origin than human, though researching Lovecraft
might indicate otherwise (be it demonic or terror divine), but
I believe that is mostly narrative embellishment on the part of
Lovecraft6; you have to read between the lines and
do away with much of the dramaturgy. However, and I know this
will interest you: I will now deal with how to spot them, and
how they have been visible to us throughout history.
They appear, as I said before, by accident as in a performative
error, therefore there is no way to tell when you will
spot them. They appear, so it seems to us, by chance in any place
at any time. This is disappointing, to say the least, for those
hoping for a close encounter, but it is fact. This is an essay
telling you what can be extrapolated from existing facts, not
an encouragement to spend your life waiting for visitors. Perhaps
you have been visited and know nothing about it? So why have they
appeared to various persons throughout history, and why have many
of them been influential in cultural development since then? It
is a good question, but let us not rule out the possibility that
many have been visited without them knowing, suppressing it into
the unconscious, or simply ignoring it, attributing it to declining
mental health and for fear of being thrown into asylums took their
secret to their graves. It would then follow that those who saw
them were able to process, like one would with a trauma, in the
form of art, through fine art, literature or theatre. I mentioned
Shakespeare; a few others would include (a short list with footnotes,
elaborated further in chapter 8 of the full work) Donne7,
Poe8, Wells9 and Twain10.
Now, it does take an open mind and some good will, but since
you are reading this I will assume that you do (I am appealing
to you feeling a bit privileged, an old technique in narrative).
I believe most people ignore any "sightings" and give
them other names, lending them to mythologies and concepts with
which they are familiar, be it real or imaginary. They call them
ghosts, apparitions, spectres, premonitions, hauntings. It is
tragic, and quite frightening, that we attribute such malicious
and terrorizing aspects to a fairly simple thing: a human appears
before us and vanishes. I guess it shows just how far we have
come, and how far we have to go. It also tells us something about
ourselves, but I will leave the deductions up to you. What is
so terrifying about the unknown? Why are we equipped with such
an instinct? As kings of the world, why are we so terrified of
the unknown when nothing should be unknown or alien to
us? Do we instinctively know there is more, inside our
mind, beneath the sea, beyond the stars?
"Hold on," you say, but allow me to politely interject.
Yes. I agree. How can these visitations not cause disturbances
to the precious concept of timelines, etc.? I cannot answer that,
because I know nothing about it. Perhaps they have, but I think
not. They most likely know a staggering amount more about
"timelines", and since they continue (if they do, but
judging from current events they do) to visit our time and world
to observe.
Thus, they have shaped history as we know it. To what extent
is obviously impossible to determine, but I trust that somebody
is keeping track of this, somewhere we do not know or experience.
My very first words were: they mean no harm. This is not an absolute,
and I do not want you to simply accept that as fact. It is not
fact; it is highly probable, the likeliest deduction from
the evidence available as of now. If their purpose is not to "learn"
or to observe, even if humoured by what they seeI say if!their
purpose is not to learn, but to conquer, well, then...
Let me know; I shall definitely include it in my research, possibly
as revision in a 2nd Edition of "Disjuncts throughout History".
In conclusion, back to you, dear reader. I want to thank you
for reading this "essay" of speculative research, and
I do hope that I have awakened some interest in this field of
new research, which I believe to be of critical importance to
our species, as well as our development.
Lastly, I want you to ask yourself a question and try to answer
it honestly: Are you alone? Is somebody watching you?
Look around you.
You might be surprised. Let me know.
Respectfully,
John Birge,
MA, Abnormal Phenomena
1) Dick, Philip K. A Handful of Darkness.
1955. Doubleday.
2) Styron, James. H.P. Lovecraft A Dark Lore. 2000.
Sydney University Press.
3) Chase, Peter E. Distorted Reality in Shakespeare. 1982,
Manchester University Press.
4) Sturgeon, Theodore. Venus Plus X. 1968. Pyramid Publishers.
5) DSM-IV-TR. The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of the
American Psychiatric Association. 4th Edition.
1994. American Psychiatric Publishing.
6) Garner, Dean. Paranormal Psychology in Lovecraft: Imagery
and Projection. 2004, Berkeley Press.
7) Sugar, Kuka. Understanding Donne: Metaphysics as Anthropomorphic
Symbolism. 2nd Edition. 1982. Harvard
University Press.
8) Edited by K.D. Rand. Collected Letters of. 1988. Random
House.
9) Baker, Irma. Psychological Traps in 19th fin-de-siecle Narration.
Chapter 9: H.G. Wells. 1999. Oxford University
Press.
10) Baker, Irma. Chapter 3: Twain: The Supernaturalist.