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
Parapsychology, Philosophy, and Spirituality (Griffin), 310n5
Partridge, Christopher, 27–30, 304n50; The Re-enchantment of the West, 28; UFO Religions, 292n48
Passport to Magonia (Vallee), 143, 156–68; contrasted with The Invisible College, 171; Méheust’s disscussion of, 309n49; and multidimensional universe, 181–82; and beyond reason, 301n3; thesis of, 170; and Vallee as underground legend, 185; and Vallee’s exile, 180
Paul, Saint, 50
Pauli, Wolfgang, 14, 23, 291n20
Paul Marshall, Mystical Encounters with the Natural World, 298n117
Pauwels, Louis, 205–6, 307n10; The Morning of the Magicians, 205
Peale, Vincent Norman, The Power of Positive Thinking, 223
Penley, C., NASA/Trek, 303n42
permission thesis, 257. See also filter thesis
Persinger, Michael, 280–81, 313
Phaedo (Plato), 38
phantasmogenetic center, 76
Phenomenology of the Spirit, The, 71–72
Picard, Michel, Aimé Michel, 307n6
Pigeaire, Léonide, 219–20
Pinker, Steven, How the Mind Works, 310n7
Piper, Leonora, 13, 56–57
Plato: and Aristotelianism, 30–31, 266; and epistemology, 65; history of Western philosophy as footnotes to, 125; and parable of the cave, 195, 257–58; Phaedo, 38; Symposium, 87–90. See also Myers, Frederick W. H., and Plato
Plotinus, 34, 46, 69
Podmore, Frank, 55–57, 78, 284; Phantasms of the Living, 47, 284
Poe, Edgar Allen, 16, 230
Politics of the Imagination (Bennett), 111
Popper, Karl, 261
postcolonial theory, 22
postmodernism: and Fort, 104, 111–12, 122; as lacking metaphysical base, 111; and Méheust, 217–18, 233; and modernism, 225; as not last word, 225; and psychical, 217–18; revisionary, 112
poststructuralism, 217–18
Power of Positive Thinking, The (Peale), 223
Price, Pat, 177, 304n61
Price-Williams, Douglas, 181
Prince of Darkness, 280. See also Satan
Principles of Psychology (James), 64
Proceedings, 55, 56; and famous contributors, 54; and Myers, 47, 58, 77
Project Blue Book, 146, 151–52, 301n8
Project Grudge, 151–52
Project Sign, 151–52, 154
psi: as exceeding objective and subjective approaches of study, 24; fear of, 228, 308n35; history of term, 8; and meaning, 286–87; and promissory materialism, 261; as real, 13; as specialization of larger shape-shifting power, 133, 265
psychical, the: and altered states, 271; apolitics of, 229–30; and comparativism, 254; component of UFO phenomenon, 157, 171; definition of, 9; description-construction of, 215–17, 222–24; in dialogue with neuroscience, history of religions, and literary theory, 256; and Eliade, 18; and the erotic, 50–51, 236; espionage of U.S. military, 13, 168–75, 229; and evolution, 40, 46, 72; as experiential core of comparative folklore, mysticism, and mythology, 254; and filter thesis, 268; and folklore, 157; forgetting of, 215–20; and Fort, 120; as hermeneutical reality, 257; history of term, 7–8; and the humanities, 201; linked to democratic values, 230; metaphysical challenge of, 224–33; mixing with fakery of, 52; and the mystical, 41–42, 209; and the occult, 41–42; and the paranormal, 8–9, 19, 24, 26, 41–42, 116, 257, 270–71; and postmodernism, 217–18; and psi, 8; and psychoanalysis, 220–22; as real, 309n40; and religious studies, 17–23, 26, 253–54, 283–84; rise of, 40; and the sacred, 9, 40, 116; and science fiction, 6; shock of, 215–17, 220–22; and trauma, 58–61; and Vallee, 157. See also mystical, the; occult, the; paranormal, the; psi; sacred, the
psychic spies. See remote viewing
psychoanalysis: and the mystical, 267; and the occult, 27, 284; and od instead of id, 296n59; as secular mysticism, 222; as stop zone for psychical, 16, 221–22; and surrealism, 58; and telepathy, 14–16, 289n2, 291n24; used to explain denial of psychical, 285. See also Freud, Sigmund; Jung, Carl
Psycho-analysis and the Occult (Devereux), 284
psychofolklore, 42–43, 232, 241, 249
psychology: and behaviorism, 194, 255; bimodal, 67, 256, 268 (see also homo duplex; Human as Two); and functionalism, 255; and Puységur in history of, 220
psychometry, 241
pulp fiction, 104, 140, 208, 214, 247. See also science fiction
Puthoff, Harold, 176–78, 186–87, 290n15, 304n57, 305n74
Puységur, Armand Marie Jacques de Chastenet, Marquis de: and apolitics of the psychical, 229–30; coining of magnetic sleep by, 219; and Crabtree, Adam, 221; credited as discovering the unconscious, 220; discovery-production of somnambulism in Victor Race by, 216, 218; magnets deemed unnecessary by, 231; and materialism, 230; Mémoires pour servir a l’histoire et a l’établissement du magnétisme animal, 308n28; and psychoanalysis, 221–22; and thought transference, 226, 228. See also Méheust, Bertrand
quantum mystical movement. See science mysticism
quantum physics, 15, 32, 94, 117–18, 176, 263
Race, Victor, 216, 218, 225, 230. See also Puységur, Armand Marie Jacques de Chastenet, Marquis de
Radin, Dean, 283, 286, 290n8, 307n20; The Conscious Universe, 283, 286–87; Entangled Minds, 286, 290n8
Raleigh, Lord, 53, 80
Re-Enchantment of the West, The (Partridge), 28
Reichenbach, Karl von, 54; The Odic Force, 296n59
Reincarnation and Biology (Stevenson), 285
remote viewing, 15, 195; Coordinate Remote Viewing (or CRV), 304n61, 305nn65–66; first book on, 290n15; and manipulation of other dimensions, 186; and Méheust, 226, 242; and military espionage, 13, 15, 140, 175–81, 235, 283–84. See also Geller, Uri; May, Edwin; McCoy, Harold; McMoneagle, Joseph; Price, Pat; Puthoff, Harold; Swann, Ingo; Targ, Russell
Renan, Ernest, 47, 48; Etudes d’Histoire Religieuse, 48
Rennie, Bryan, Mircea Eliade, editor of, 291n32
Researches into the Phenomena of Spiritualism (Crookes), 53
retrocognition, 73
Revelations (Vallee), 181, 184
Rhine, J. B., 8, 24
Richet, Charles, 52–53, 78–79
Ricoeur, Paul, 220
Ring, Kenneth, The Omega Project, 304n51
Robertson, Michael, Worshipping Walt, 294n14
Robur le conquérant (Verne), 207
Roquet, Claude-Henri, 18–19
rosary, 279, 282
Rosicrucian tradition, 161, 192–94
Roswell, 152
Roszak, Theodore, The Making of a Counter Culture, 306n3
Rouefulgurante (Hire), 207
Royle, Nicholas, Telepathy and Literature, 291n29
Rozenzweig,
Franz, 251
Rumor of Angels, A (Berger), 238
Ruskin, John, 40, 48
sacred, the: and brain, 256; definition of, 9; dimension of secularization, 29; eclipse of, 253–55; as encoding positive and negative, 252; and Fort, 95, 114, 133; as inherently tricky, 52; and the mystical, 9; and Otto, Rudolf, 9, 17; and the paranormal, 9, 116, 254; and the psychical, 9, 40, 116; and religious studies, 252–55, 266; as sacred, 254; and the secular, 29–30, 222; and science fiction, 308n20; and symbolization, 214; technologization of, 301n18, 308n20; as tied to psyche, 255–56; and UFO phenomenon, 214
Sagan, Carl, 157–58; Intelligent Life in the Universe, 302n27
Sand, George, 47, 86
Sargasso Sea, 46, 109, 295; super-, 96, 109, 125, 127
Sartre, Jean-Paul, 220
Satan, 240. See also Prince of Darkness
Sawyer, Dana, Aldous Huxley, 297n102
Schelling, Friedrick Wilhelm Joseph, 71
Schiaparelli, Giovanni, 299n15
Schirmer, Herbert, 273
Schmidt, Leigh Eric, Restless Souls, 294n14
Schnabel, Jim Remote Viewers, 304n64
Scholem, Gershom, 19, 191, 251–52; Major Trends in Jewish Mysticism, 191
Schopenhauer, Arthur, 12, 222, 290n10; The Will in Nature, 11; The World as Will and Representation, 11
Authors of the Impossible: The Paranormal and the Sacred Page 47