by D W Pasulka
ported them. As a scientist, he was aware of two things, one
explainable, the other not. His research found that some
people exhibited knowledge of events for which they should
not, according to what we know about normal processes of
acquiring information. He could not explain this, but he
relied on quantum theory to suggest that particles distant
from each other seem to have knowledge of each other and
even affect each other (“spooky action at a distance”). And
scientists don’t know why this is so. He suggested that per-
haps there is a quantum field of information and somehow
his subjects tap into it. He theorized that the ability to con-
tact or be contacted is likely to be genetical y determined.
Since genes define structures and architectures of the tissues
of the body, genes would underlie the components of a brain
receiver for such information. He said, “Once the phenom-
enon contacts humans, from wherever it originates, it leaves
a signature. That signature is traceable. It is physical, physi-
ological; it is processed then in a world that tools of science
can study. We can identify it.”
James speculated that once the information is received
by the brain and recognition occurs, it likely creates changes
J A M E S : M A S T E R O F T H E M U LT I V E R S E | 65
in human physiology—
somewhere a neuro-
electrical
channel is modified, and the signal enters a world that
scientists can access. That means researchers can identify the
most obvious changes and trace them back to their molec-
ular roots. He explained that because form and function are
linked in biology, the function of the brain has strong genetic
components— driven by the architecture of the neurons as
defined in the genetic instruction set in a given individual.
Genetics, by definition, is familial, and experiencers of the
phenomenon often run in families— like his.
James’s presentation was fascinating and intensely per-
sonal. He revealed that he knew some people who were
“bedeviled” by the contact events. Contact was not always
welcome. I listened careful y to the words James chose.
Bedeviled was used more than any other word in this con-
text, but other words were “harassed” and “bothered.”
“Bedevil” means to torment or harass maliciously or diaboli-
cal y. It became clear to me, if not to the other attendees, that
James’s mission was personal, and it was heroic. He was out
to develop a medicine, an antidote, to the malicious contact
event. James was incensed that contact took place on “their”
terms and not on ours. James’s plan was to shift that relation-
ship by 180 degrees. He wanted to give humans the right,
and the ability, to say “no.” As the day progressed, I began to
wonder whether this was now James’s primary life mission.
It was no wonder he would not tolerate equivocation with
respect to the reality of the phenomenon. To say it wasn’t real
was to discount James on several levels— intellectual y, cer-
tainly. But more personal y, it discounted the suffering cer-
tain experiencers endured— some their whole lives.
When James ended his presentation, a silence filled the
room. I imagined that the others had as many questions as
6 6 | A M E R IC A N C O SM IC
I did but were still formulating them. Or maybe they were too
shocked to speak. In any case, a colleague final y ventured a
question that I shared, which had to do with quantum theory
and James’s idea of the field of information. “At what point
does the anomalous phenomena come into contact with
human hardware?” James repeated the question in his an-
swer. “Basical y, it appears that anomalous cognition starts
on a level that is beyond the physical world of which we are
aware. I suggest it is on some quantum level. Humans use
their senses to interact with energy forms like light. Modern
physics reveals that at these well understood physical levels
quantum information is transferred. However, once an indi-
vidual becomes aware of an anomalous event or knowledge, it
has at that point already been transferred into human brains
as a “recognition” via mainstream physiology— namely,
human neuronal hardware. So, let’s identify where this infor-
mation is transferred, and identify what types of molecules
are involved in this process. This allows us to begin the long
road towards identifying the human interface that is our
connection to the phenomenon.
“I can use cutting- edge approaches to locate these
molecules and to identify the signatures of interaction,” he
continued. “This is the same kind of science that drives bi-
omedical research in the world today. Just as certain intel-
lectual traits are heritable because of how the brain is wired,
it should be assumed that so is the ability to interface with
the phenomenon. Therefore, it would be a good idea to lo-
cate families where the trait is dominant. It is assuredly a
6th sense that is associated with a material component we
already possess.”
As James was speaking, I thought about my own family.
A cousin in law enforcement has always possessed what
J A M E S : M A S T E R O F T H E M U LT I V E R S E | 6 7
I believe would conform to James’s definition of anomalous
cognition. His abilities have helped him out of many dire
situations where his life or the lives of others were in danger.
One of my students, José, a Marine and author who has seen
active duty, wrote about it in his book about his experiences
on the front line. “I always found it fascinating when seniors
in the Marines would say, ‘Your point man, if he has a knack
for finding IEDs or sensing things, keep him there,’ and we
always did, even amongst one another. In training they called
it atmospherics, but observing the physical components of
your surroundings was always secondary, even tertiary.”4
It was pragmatism, not just simple belief, that determined
whether or not “the sense” existed. When your life or the life
of your friend is on the line, you’re not about to argue meta-
physics. If “the sense” works, then use it.
The “sense” existed for James because he had evidence
of it. He had been exposed to communities of people who
displayed anomalous cognition— some of whom suffered
terribly for it. Although he did not go into the particulars
of the cases he researched, at one point he did look at me
and say, “Diana, you know how you’ve studied the history of
Catholicism? And they called some entities either angels or
demons? Some of the interactions seem benign— and even
helpful. Wel , the behaviors of some of the things I am talking
about would have been called demonic, as short as one hun-
dred years ago.” I thought of his use of the word “bedeviled”
and shuddered.
James remind
ed me of Tyler. Perhaps Tyler was pre-
ternatural y gifted with anomalous cognition. Perhaps the
founders of the American and Russian space programs
were all gifted, or cursed, with various forms of anomalous
cognition. I thought of all the strange anecdotes I had read
6 8 | A M E R IC A N C O SM IC
and heard about the founders of these programs, like Jack
Parsons or Konstantin Tsiolkovsky, both of whom believed
that nonhuman intelligences were sending humans sym-
bolic messages, but that only some humans were able to per-
ceive these and translate them into products. Tsiolkovsky
suggested that it was the creative geniuses, scientists, and
poets who were able to receive the communications. Qian
Xuesen, a Chinese engineer who helped establish Parsons’s
Jet Propulsion Laboratory and China’s ballistic missile pro-
gram, also believed in an energetic force that imparted infor-
mation, Qi (Chi). Of course, Qi has a long history in Chinese
and other Asian religious and philosophical traditions as a
sacred life force that can be tapped with the right training.
Though not aware of Tsien’s history of trying to utilize or
successful y utilizing Qi to promote science, Tyler certainly
adopted his own set of physical “training” practices to tap
into what he thought was a nonhuman intelligence.
I have read several excellent histories of science, but
I have yet to read the history of unorthodox science. Annie
Jacobsen’s book Phenomena is an excellent overview of
some of the most recent unorthodox ways in which science
is conducted in the United States. She focuses on the US
military’s experiments into remote viewing, parapsychology,
and similar phenomena. During the conference break,
I thought through the strange tales I learned as a graduate
student. There was the case of Srinivasa Ramanujan, a poor
boy from the Indian province of Tamil Nadu. He had only
some elementary training and education in mathematics,
yet went on to be one of the most brilliant and innovative
mathematicians of the early twentieth century. His brilliance
was so astonishing that there is a journal devoted to his novel
ideas, which are still being worked out and understood. How
J A M E S : M A S T E R O F T H E M U LT I V E R S E | 69
did a young boy with little training in mathematics end up
at Oxford University and become recognized as one of the
most brilliant mathematicians in the world? He attributed
his brilliance to the Hindu goddess Lakshmi. According to
Ramanujan, she whispered mathematical equations in his
ear and provided him with specific calculations. This expla-
nation embarrassed his colleagues at Oxford. But he never
backed down from his story. To him, it was the truth.
I asked James where he thought he himself derived his
extraordinary creativity. He seemed pleased that I asked him
this question.
“The young are usual y the ones who ask me this question
so directly. I am invited all over the world to give lectures
about my lab’s research. Graduate students are the only ones
who have ever asked me how I get my ideas. And truly, it is
pretty simple, and somebody needs to study it— document
how people do it. I have told them that I think creativity can
be trained and that there is a process.
“Usual y I lay out the most recent problem I need to solve
in my head, sometimes just before bed,” he continued. “I
think of all the possible parts of the problem that I can. What
is the question, what would the perfect answer enable, what
is a practical answer? What pieces of things could possibly
go into ‘making’ the answer? Then, I just ask the subcon-
scious processes in my head, which I laughingly refer to as
little ‘elves,’ to work on the problem while I sleep. You can call
them elves, but I don’t know what they are— I used to think
they were just some version of the subconscious processes
that help you navigate a room of people while talking to a
friend or trying to avoid an overly chatty colleague at a party.
Call them anything you want. Either I wake up with the an-
swer or out of the blue it just pops into my head in the next
7 0 | A M E R IC A N C O SM IC
few days, more often just after waking. And I know I am not
alone in this. But the point is, there is a process and I think it
can be trained. I am beginning to wonder if the information
comes from somewhere else at times— because for the life of
me I can’t figure out from where the inspirations arrive some-
times. I seem to be given a part of the puzzle for a problem
to which I simply did not previously have access. I wonder
sometimes if the ability is somehow related to brain structure
and the phenomena.”
“Wow.” I was envious. That sounds so easy, I thought. It
also sounded like a protocol, somewhat like the one Tyler
had told me about.
There was a very interesting process of creativity going
on in Tyler’s and James’s cases, and in the cases of people
like Ramanujan and Qian. I had read recent research about
creativity that showed that the parts of the brain that corre-
late with identity get shut down when a person is performing
a creative act. This causes the individual to associate the
act with an external agent. Was this happening in the case
of Ramanujan or the others? But if so, what of the physical
traces and artifacts that both James and Tyler studied? These
seemed to solidify the processes, for each of these men, onto
a real external agent, not just an imaginary one.
“James, can you explain a little more about these elves,
or that place where you think this information is derived?”
I asked. “Is this the same place where the quantum informa-
tion exists?”
“Not sure,” he replied. “I do know that friends of mine
who are scientists often report that they learn things when
they sleep, almost as if they travel to some place and come
back with information that helps them in their research.
J A M E S : M A S T E R O F T H E M U LT I V E R S E | 7 1
I have no evidence for any specifics, except that the ideas do
come, and I am not entirely sure of how the answers arrive so
neatly packaged.”
T H E P R O C E S S E S
O F T R A N S L AT I O N
Tyler seems to be able to tap into an ocean of creative ideas
and bring them to tangible fruition as biotechnologies, but
he was never able to explain how the process worked. James,
on the other hand, is the consummate professor— a teacher.
He could explain how he accomplishes seemingly impossible
feats, and he could document and describe the process. His
presentation laid out a formula for how anomalous cognition
could derive from some potential y nonmaterial, ethereal in-
formation field and then be translated into human hardware.
Jacques Vallee had theorized such a direction for re-
sea
rch. James, like me, counted Vallee as one of his major
influences and mentors. In fact, Jacques was among the se-
rious researchers who reached out to James when he publicly
outed himself as interested in the phenomenon. (Jacques
was not one of the men in black. That is not Jacques’s style.)
Jacques and James formed an instant bond. In James, Jacques
found someone capable of understanding his theories and
even hammering out their scientific details. In Jacques, James
found an entrée into the community of the best researchers
of the phenomenon. James once observed that “Jacques has
achieved his status precisely because he has never concluded
the phenomenon is anything specific. In fact, Jacques has
infuriated most ufologists because he won’t fall in line. All
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Jacques has ever claimed is that the phenomenon seems infi-
nitely variable. Every time you claim it is one thing, he shows
you twenty counter- examples. But, per Jacques, the over-
arching message the phenomenon appears to send is ‘you are
not alone’— styled to the level of your cultural understanding
and abilities.”
Jacques, one of the first truly innovative thinkers on
the subject, suggests that the UFO might not be an object,
but some kind of “window” into another dimension. The
window metaphor is quite interesting, as a window is a phys-
ical object but one through which we see into another place.
Could the hardware of James’s subjects be like this, physical
yet somehow like a conduit, or windowlike?5
I decided to introduce Tyler and James. They had so
much in common. They both felt they knew the phenom-
enon was real, both worked in the biotechnology sector,
and both were at the top of their fields. James studied the
biological hardware of human capabilities for anomalous
cognition, whereas Tyler studied the material hardware—
the supposed crashed alien spacecraft. I predicted that once
they met, they would become fast friends and decide to
work together.
When I returned home from the conference, I received
emails from each of them. One was Tyler’s invitation to the
site in New Mexico. James had sent me a few pictures of a
fancy charity gala in the Los Angeles hil s, showing him
dancing with the beautiful pop star Katy Perry. He was ob-
viously having a wonderful time. Nothing could trump that