Authors of the Impossible: The Paranormal and the Sacred (65 page)

Mesmerism: and Balzac,
240
; and Boehme, Jacob,
72
; and colonial power,
239
; and the erotic,
51
,
85
; and links with literary arts,
16
,
230–31
,
308n36
; and Mills, Bruce,
16
,
230–31
; and psychoanalysis,
13
,
15
,
221
; and Puységur,
218
; and S. P. R.,
54
; and Townshend, Chauncy,
231
,
23–37
; use of scientific language to explain,
42
; and Winter, Alison,
238–39

Messengers of Deception
(Vallee),
181
,
184

Michael A. G.,
Contact with Alien Civilizations
,
302n20

Michel, Aimé: and the absurd,
212–13
; advice to gnostic of,
252
; altered states of,
204
;
L'Apocalypse molle
,
307n6
;
La clarté au coeur du laybyrinthe
,
307n6
; and cosmic consciousness,
204
; and fantastic realism,
203
,
205–6
; and friendship with Vallee,
148
,
150
,
159
,
243
; influence on Méheust,
203
,
209
,
243
,
307
; Jung's influence on,
153
;
Metanoia
,
307n8
;
Mystérieux Objets Célestes
,
150
; as outside professional boundaries,
191
; and polio,
204
; and postmodernism,
217
; and ufology as esoteric,
193
; view of the human being of,
205

military psychics.
See
remote viewing

Mill, John Stuart,
40

Miller, Henry,
16

Mills, Bruce,
16
,
230–31
,
235
;
Poe, Fuller, and the Mesmeric Arts
,
291n27

Mind at Large,
73

Mind's Eye, The
(Hofstadter and Dennett),
258
,
311n8

Mind Trek
(McMoneagle),
179

Misraki, Paul,
153
,
154
,
279
;
Les Extraterrestres
,
313n20

Mitchell, Edgar,
178

Mondrian, Piet,
16

Monroe, Robert,
171–74

Morin, Edgar,
220

Morning of the Magicians, The
(Pauwels and Bergier),
186
,
205
,
307n10

morphodynamics,
21

Moses,
101

Moses, William Stainton,
54
,
56
,
70

Müller, Max,
41

Muller, Paul,
148

multiverse,
182
,
186
,
188

Murphy, Michael,
188
,
296n52
,
306n96

Myers, Eveleen Tenant,
44
,
89–90

Myers, Frederick W. H.: and book as séance,
38
,
91
; and Breton, André,
58
,
76
,
83
; coining of
telepathy
,
38
; conversion to Christianity,
45
; and cross-correspondences affair,
48
; death of,
48
; definition of the imaginal,
82–83
; diagnosed with Bright's disease,
48
; education of,
44
; and the erotic,
236
;
Essays: Classical
,
47
;
Essays: Modern
,
47
; and “forces unknown to science,”
58
; “Fragments of Inner Life,”
37–39
,
46
,
90
;
Fragments of Prose and Poetry
,
293n2
; and Freud, Sigmund,
63–64
,
86
; as hermeneutical thinker,
87–88
; as little known,
6
,
256
; as married to ghost,
44
; and Marshall, Annie Hill,
88–91
,
236
; and Myers, Eveleen Tenant,
44
,
89–90
; parents of,
43–44
; personal psychical experiences of,
53–54
,
91
; on phantasmogenetic center,
76
;
Phantasms of the Living
,
47
,
284
; and progressive immortality,
39
; rejection of natural
selection
for telepathy,
69
; and Romantic poets,
47
; as Romantic thinker,
47
;
Science and a Future Life
,
47
,
83
; shaking John King's hand,
53–54
,
90
; Sidgwick, Henry, mentor of,
48
; and sin's recontextualization,
46
; and the spiritual,
70
,
99
,
132–33
,
294–95n33
; and the supernormal,
66–75
,
83
; telaesthesia,
86
; on veridical hallucinations,
75–76
. See also
Human Personality and Its Survival of Bodily Death
(Myers); imaginal, the; subliminal, the; supernormal, the; telepathy

Myers, Frederick W. H., and Plato: as beloved classical author,
38
; in dialogue with evolutionary theory,
46
,
69
; and doctrine of reminiscences,
38–39
,
48
,
69
,
84
; and the erotic as the mystical,
87–90
,
91
,
298n121
; Myers influenced by,
39
,
42
,
45
,
48
; and
Symposium
,
87–90
,
298n121

Mystérieux Objets Célestes
(Michel),
150

mystical, the: and absurdity,
159
; and dialectic of culture and consciousness,
202
; and the erotic,
88
,
179
,
222
,
267
,
295n48
,
310n5
; and evolution,
46
,
71–72
,
263
,
298n117
; and the fantastic,
206
; and Freud, Sigmund,
15–16
; government funded research into,
147
; as hermeneutical,
249
; Myers's uses of category of,
294n15
; and
mysterium tremendum
,
9
; and the paranormal,
9
,
41–42
,
257
; and pathological states,
67
; popular culture as,
6
; and the psychical,
9
,
41–42
; and psychoanalysis,
222
; and quantum physics,
20
; and roots of modern literature,
16
,
230–31
,
308n36
; and the sacred,
9
,
41–42
; and science,
9
,
123–24
,
300n34
; and science fiction,
31
,
209
,
300n34
; and Superman,
214
; and UFO phenomenon,
208–9
.
See also
occult, the; paranormal, the; psychical, the; sacred, the

NASA,
303n42

National Investigations Committee on Aerial Phenomena (NICAP),
165

Nature
,
177
,
178

NcCauley, Robert N.,
310n3

Nelson, Victoria: and cosmic consciousness,
30
; describing Valis as Platonic,
34
; as inspiration for use of
fantastic narrative
,
27
; materialism challenged by,
268
; and science fiction,
31
;
The Secret Life of Puppets
,
30
; and unbalanced Aristotelianism,
30
,
266

neurobiology,
263

neuroscience: and brain, left vs. right,
59
,
259–61
,
266
,
270
,
310n5
; and Buddhism,
120
; in dialogue with history of religions,
256
; and Dick, Philip,
258
,
267–68
; and evolution,
253
,
256
,
261–63
; and filter theory,
73
,
252–58
,
267–69
; foreshadowed,
59
; and Human as Two,
259–67
,
310n5
; as inadequate for explaining the paranormal,
258
; and interactionist method of this book,
310n3
; metaphorical punch lacking from language of,
258
; and mind-brain problem,
255–56
; nonmaterialist,
262–65
; and psychical research,
256
; and psychoanalytic model of the unconscious,
312n31
; and reductionism,
169
,
253–55
; and the sacred,
256
; and science fiction,
267
; and trauma-as-trigger,
259–60
,
264
,
310n5
; and Valis,
258
,
267

New Lands
(Fort),
93
,
98
,
127
,
129
,
300

New Thought,
223

Newton, Isaac,
21
,
65
,
145

Nightcrawler,
137

nondualism,
257
,
310n5

Northwestern University,
149–51

Nova
,
23

NSA (National Security Agency),
175

Nuremberg Broadsheet of 1561,
153

occult, the: and astral travel,
177
; as at once rational and mystical,
28
; as comparative category,
19
; and Eliade, Mircea,
17–20
,
292n40
; and the erotic,
50–51
; and the fantastic,
268
; and Fort,
94
,
127
,
131–32
; history and definition of term,
7–8
,
27
; and Méheust,
243
; and the mystical,
8–9
,
28
,
41–42
; and NASA,
303n42
; and the paranormal,
8–9
,
41–42
; and the psychical,
8–9
,
41–42
; and psychoanalysis,
27
,
284
; and religious studies,
35
,
297n105
; and Rosicrucian tradition,
161
,
192–94
; and Schopenhauer, Arthur,
11
; and science fiction,
167
; and UFO phenomenon,
167
; and Vallee,
156
,
167
,
243
.
See also
Jung, Carl; mystical, the; paranormal, the; psychical, the; sacred, the

occulture,
26–35
; as concealing and revealing,
30
; fantastic narrative of Western,
27
,
35
; as implying dialectic between the secular and the sacred,
29
; and Owen, Alex,
27
; and Partridge, Christopher,
28–29

Ochorowicz, Julian,
226

odic force,
54
,
296n59

Official Interrogations of 1923
,
The
,
276

O'Leary, John,
16

O'Leary, Denyse,
The Spiritual Brain
,
311n26

On Having No Head
(Harding),
258
,
311n8

Oppenheim, Janet,
The Other World
,
297n95

Origin of Species
,
The
(Darwin),
113

Orpheus,
11

Otto, Rudolf,
9
,
17

Outcast Manufacturers
(Fort),
98

out-of-body experience (OBE),
171–72

Owen, Alex:
The Darkened Room
,
296n51
; on hypnotism at a distance,
13
; as inspiration for author's use of occulture,
27
; on literature and occult,
16
; and Nelson,
30
; and occult double of the rational and the mystical,
28
,
35
;
The Place of Enchantment,
291n17
,
295n48

Oxford University,
41

Palladino, Eusapia,
49
,
51
,
52–53
,
296n53

Palo Alto Parapsychology Research Group (the PRG),
176

panaesthesia,
69

Paracelsus,
144
,
145

parallel universe,
143

paranormal, the: apolitics of,
229–30
; careful scholarship of,
237
,
283–87
; as confounding subjective/objective distinctions,
24
,
146
,
166
,
202
,
227
,
268
; definition of,
9
; and dialectic of culture and consciousness,
202
; and Dick, Philip,
31–34
,
267
; Eliade's personal experiences of,
18–19
; and the erotic,
24
,
51
,
236
; and the esoteric,
7
,
168–81
,
257
; as experiential core of comparative folklore, mysticism, and mythology,
254
; as expression of nondual reality,
257
; as fantastic,
252
; the fantastic as hermeneutical key to,
33
; and filter thesis in dialogue with
homo duplex
,
252
; and folklore,
216
,
254
; and Fort,
94
,
96
,
112
,
116–17
,
125
; as hermeneutics,
25–26
,
33
,
39
,
183
,
188
,
195
,
230
,
257
; history of term,
7–8
; and invisible college,
168–75
; and Jung,
14
,
246
; and Keel, John,
300n40
,
313n26
; and literature,
16
; as matter of national security,
147
; as meaning,
23–26
,
270–71
,
286–87
; mixing with fakery,
52
; and Myers,
76
; and the mystical,
6
,
147
,
257
,
292n49
; and national security,
147
,
174–81
; and neuroscience,
244
,
258
,
262
,
265
; at origin of popular beliefs,
253
; and popular culture,
6
; and postmodernism,
112
,
122
; and the psychical,
8–9
,
19
,
24
,
26
,
41–42
,
116
,
257
,
270–71
; and psychoanalysis,
217–18
,
222
; as real,
197
,
233
,
253
,
257
,
301n11
; and religious studies,
17–23
,
26
,
253–54
,
283–84
; and the sacred,
9
,
116
,
254
; and science fiction,
5–6
,
144
,
206–15
; and the Soviet Union,
185
; as story,
26–35
; as supernatural,
282
; theoretical coherence of,
20
; and UFO phenomenon,
149
,
158
,
280
; as unassimilated Other of modern thought,
23
; and Vallee,
146
,
149
,
168
,
183
,
190
,
195–96
; and/as writing (us),
61
,
74
,
99
,
128
,
141
,
196
,
207
,
269–70
.
See also
Fort, Charles; Méheust, Bertrand; Myers, Frederick W. H; mystical, the; occult, the; psychical, the; sacred, the; Vallee, Jacques