In a book I read recently about Fred Myers, an early 20th century psychologist, he discusses "subliminal" knowledge vs the "supraliminal" or daily (regular) sort, using the phenomena of genius to show what he meant. He is right - their is a human ability to understand this world in far greater depth than normal, which might arise either through chance or practice - and usually some of both. What we normally see is a facade - not an "unreality," but an extremely limited reality that could be, for teaching purposes, said to be unreal, as the Eastern mystics do.
We might say, then, in the parlance of old religion, that a veil separates us from the depths of this greater reality; and "veil," a light covering that can be brushed aside, is an apt description. But what about the "veil" that separates the living from the dead? This was Myer's greatest quest - to show that the living continued to live (in a different manner) as separate identities, after death, and he used various sorts of mediumship to demonstrate that there was much evidence for this.
For me, however, the "veil" between life and death is more like an iron curtain. In recent years, when people I have known well have died, I have been struck by the feeling of absolute emptiness: of total departure. It has been usual for me, since childhood, to have dreams with the recently dead, but I do not really consider this to be a lifting of the curtain - it still remains uncertain whether these encounters had anything to do with the actual dead, or were merely dreams made up about them for some reason or another - or just because the memory lingered on.
There is a Puerto Rican friend of mine, however, who consistently has seen this separation of the dead from the living as a thin, movable veil, and she insists it is a cultural bias on my part that I do not. Visiting a host of mediums in an area of Venezuela with her, I saw her point - while I had fear about some of the freakier rituals, it was all normal to her. She also had a practical experience with this that I witnessed which strengthens her point:
While doing fieldwork with her in deep central Venezuela, cut off from all news from the outside, she had a dream about her grandmother. She could not see her clearly, only in outline, for she was hidden behind a veil, but she could hear her perfectly well,and the grandmother stated what was obvious, that she was no longer in the same room as her, but "behind the veil," and would not see her again as before. The woman immediately understood that the grandmother was dead. A few months later we left the field, and she did indeed find that her grandmother had died a few months earlier. To this day she dreams "with" her, as she says, fairly regularly, and gets advice. All normal as far as she understands it.
And so what is a veil to me might be an iron curtain to you - and what is that curtain to me might be a light, permeable veil to others. It seems it might be based on our conditioning. I certainly fear encountering the dead; why, then, would this curtain part for me, unless it came (as it sometimes does) from a deeper source that simply to powerful to block?
And it is this about seeing beyond the veil, however that might be, that should be kept in mind. Our current mainstream culture of materialism repeatedly denies anything that is beyond the senses in one way or another. We are conditioned not to see beyond the normal to a degree that might be without cultural precedent. But that does not make what is beyond any less real. And ultimately, it might be fear that keeps us locked in this flat, unexceptional speck of reality. I think that we might want to - perhaps might have to - have more courage and see beyond the veil and even beyond the iron curtain. FK
We might say, then, in the parlance of old religion, that a veil separates us from the depths of this greater reality; and "veil," a light covering that can be brushed aside, is an apt description. But what about the "veil" that separates the living from the dead? This was Myer's greatest quest - to show that the living continued to live (in a different manner) as separate identities, after death, and he used various sorts of mediumship to demonstrate that there was much evidence for this.
For me, however, the "veil" between life and death is more like an iron curtain. In recent years, when people I have known well have died, I have been struck by the feeling of absolute emptiness: of total departure. It has been usual for me, since childhood, to have dreams with the recently dead, but I do not really consider this to be a lifting of the curtain - it still remains uncertain whether these encounters had anything to do with the actual dead, or were merely dreams made up about them for some reason or another - or just because the memory lingered on.
There is a Puerto Rican friend of mine, however, who consistently has seen this separation of the dead from the living as a thin, movable veil, and she insists it is a cultural bias on my part that I do not. Visiting a host of mediums in an area of Venezuela with her, I saw her point - while I had fear about some of the freakier rituals, it was all normal to her. She also had a practical experience with this that I witnessed which strengthens her point:
While doing fieldwork with her in deep central Venezuela, cut off from all news from the outside, she had a dream about her grandmother. She could not see her clearly, only in outline, for she was hidden behind a veil, but she could hear her perfectly well,and the grandmother stated what was obvious, that she was no longer in the same room as her, but "behind the veil," and would not see her again as before. The woman immediately understood that the grandmother was dead. A few months later we left the field, and she did indeed find that her grandmother had died a few months earlier. To this day she dreams "with" her, as she says, fairly regularly, and gets advice. All normal as far as she understands it.
And so what is a veil to me might be an iron curtain to you - and what is that curtain to me might be a light, permeable veil to others. It seems it might be based on our conditioning. I certainly fear encountering the dead; why, then, would this curtain part for me, unless it came (as it sometimes does) from a deeper source that simply to powerful to block?
And it is this about seeing beyond the veil, however that might be, that should be kept in mind. Our current mainstream culture of materialism repeatedly denies anything that is beyond the senses in one way or another. We are conditioned not to see beyond the normal to a degree that might be without cultural precedent. But that does not make what is beyond any less real. And ultimately, it might be fear that keeps us locked in this flat, unexceptional speck of reality. I think that we might want to - perhaps might have to - have more courage and see beyond the veil and even beyond the iron curtain. FK
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