Monday, February 18, 2008

From Whitley Strieber's new "journal" entry:

The object that was placed in my left ear in 1989 has begun to work in a very focused and clear manner. What happens now is that I hear a faint sound of a gong in the ear, about ten times a minute, for a period of half an hour or so, generally in the early mornings when things are quiet. When this is happening, I am able to see and interact with a certain group of people, including reading books and papers, and participating in life with them almost as if it was entirely physical. I have come to know some of these people. They are aware of me, and they look entirely human. That said, the way they live -- in small cabins in a dense woodland -- suggests that they are not of our world or perhaps not of this time, or perhaps their lives are unfolding in a parallel universe.

12 comments:

Anonymous said...

Is it just me or is he is beginning to sound a little like some other individuals who have been describing their experiences while using DMT. I am not suggesting that he is using DMT, only that the experiences sounds similar in some ways.

Michael

Anonymous said...

Oh Whitley...Oh Whitley...

It strikes me that this described experience is vastly more far fetched than his encounters with Greys. Could it be that due to the immense trama of contact he is now losing his grip on reality? I don't have huge issues swallowing contact stories but this experience really does sound more like a chemical one than a real one.

If I were him, this would worry me greatly. Seriously. Sounds like he's really falling apart.

Denny

Anonymous said...

Hi MAc

What do you think about those 'shadow people' frankly?

I think it the most embarrassing experience since Kelly-Hopkinsville. Witnesses say they are not aliens, nor ghosts nor demons, they are just there. A wholly new phenomenon in this sense; somewhat Lovecraftian, they just haunt people without any clue. I'"d appreciate a post or even a tag about them.

w

Anonymous said...

Watch it, Mac. Sounds like Whitley may be ripping off your "cryptoterrestrials" idea. (I know you didn't originate it but still....)

Mac said...

Watch it, Mac. Sounds like Whitley may be ripping off your "cryptoterrestrials" idea.

Nah. If anything, he was there before me.

Mac said...

Denny--

Could it be that due to the immense trama of contact he is now losing his grip on reality?

A good question, and one that forces one to ask if we actually know what "reality" is. I, for one, don't think we're even close.

Strieber could very well be dealing with "noise," but I'm interested in the means by which he extracts an apparent signal.

Frankly, the "Gray" abduction mythos is more of a cultural artifact than anything else. When I read about encounters or contacts that *don't* involve the requisite Grays I pay close attention, knowing that the "weirdness" factor is systematically weeded out by self-styled "abduction" researchers.

Mac said...

Re. "shadow people":

I think "alien" and "ghost" are labels we use to help us feel we understand phenomena that may have little or nothing to do with ETs and wandering souls. So in that sense maybe "shadow people" is a more intellectually honest term.

Having said that, I don't know what they are. My guess is that they're a lot of things (ranging from abnormal temporal lobe states to paranoia to Genuine Weirdness).

Anonymous said...

"Genuine Weirdness"! I love that phrase, within the context intended!
Hah! Indeed.....

Mac said...

Michael--

Is it just me or is he is beginning to sound a little like some other individuals who have been describing their experiences while using DMT.

Keep in mind, too, that the brain produces endogenous DMT. Strieber could be experiencing DMT effects without actually "doing" any. (I'm drawn to the possibility that DMT-derived experiences might actually be "real" in a way we're not adept at addressing.)

Anonymous said...

He is a tricky one to pin down.

Mac's point is a good one. I think it'd be dangerous to dismiss this out of hand - I suspect (like a lot of people) that he does have genuinely odd experiences (as a lot of other people do) and is on a journey to try and explain this. In some ways it is brave of him to report such things that are beyond the envelope of conventional UFO encounters.

It has resonances with out of body experiences and the closest paranormal explanation I can think of with that is a trip to fairyland.

However, should he be taking such things literally? There is a big chance this is all internally generated (his earliest experiences seem to resemble sleep paralysis) and if they are external the Trickster-like nature of all entity encounters means you have to always be cautious.

That said other explanations have been put forward:

Perhaps he is a fantasy prone personality who is misinterpreting internal events. His sci-fi certainly suggests this.

Or he could have done the old L Ron Sidestep and started billing his sci-fi as real (and as things went on his fiction and non-fiction certainly seem to be more of a continuum than two distinct areas of work. It may be that, given fantasy proneness he isn't doing this as cynically as Hubbard.

Some have suggested he is in the employ of the CIA. It'd make great disinformation to help establish the Grey abduction meme in western culture and then undermine it, ultimately the whole thing very easy to dismiss.

If I had to place a bet I'd suggest he is sincere in what he reports but that in taking things literally has has got lost.

Note this journal entry has been removed (at the time of writing) but is still cached by Google (the Internet: the great Necromancer - nothing really dies ;) )

Anonymous said...

Just one more note here from me....I wasn't trying to be judgmental in reference to DMT, I was just making an observation I noticed about similarities in the reported experiences.

At an advanced age, my father began talking to people in the room that no one else could see or hear. From what I could tell, it seems he was having actual conversations. I say that because he wasn't just speaking nonsense and he was listening and pausing for responses and asking questions from whoever he was speaking with. He would not however answer any questions regarding who was speaking with if you asked him. He would ignore your questions as though he could not hear you. The doctors said he was suffering from dementia and yet at other times he seemed perfectly lucid.

What is real and what is imagined has long interested me. Experiences we have in dreams seem so real to us at times we startle ourselves awake and often find our heart rate increased or other physically measurable changes. I don't know the answers but I enjoy the pursuit.

Michael

Anonymous said...

One essential point being overlooked: his story about a mobile ear implant. Why do I suspect he would not allow an examination of same by medical experts, employing current medical tech such as PET, CAT, and fMRI scanners? Because Strieber is lying or deluded, or both.

He has now, and for some time since his fiction days (which, imho, continue) been verging in L. Ron Hubbard territory, i.e., fiction as if it were fact merely because the author, Strieber in this case, says so.

He's trying to pull a Veidt, ala the "Watchmen" scenario. I ask, who will watch (and really vet) this particular watchman? The truth will set him free, but it may not result in continuing profit. Strieber, regardless of the skill and strangely wonderful content of his online journal posts and books, etc., is committing a fraud, whether you or he or anyone else cares or not.

This can be easily proven. Need I mention this mythical alien or whatever ear (and most eeriely silly) implant, again, folks?

Critical thinking, honest skepticism, and empirical, deductive logic requires it. Don't get fooled, again! There will be no Veidt confabulations or fakery allowed, at least on _my_ watch, damn it!

The watchmen are now here, and on the job. Veidt/Strieber will not win this battle for hearts and minds. Nor should be, based on just the facts, ma'am. Feh on him.

To be continued...