Unexplained phenomena and the liminal state
I've received a lot of feedback lately on purported "stances" that I have regarding "the big three" from A Trojan Feast: aliens, faeries, and sasquatch. What's fascinating to me is that about half of those who have contacted me have come to the conclusion that I "believe" these are physical phenomena, while the other half think that I'm in the spiritual camp.
Can I be both and neither at the same time? I've said it a hundred times, but I might as well say it again: I have no stance on what any of this actually is. Any position is riddled with weakeness. Take sasquatch, for example: if bigfoot is flesh-and-blood, how can he seemingly disappear at will? If bigfoot is a spirit, then why does he leave behind hair and, most inelegantly, scat?
Many have remarked on the liminal nature of these phenomena, citing the way that they tend to inhabit a zone between the physical and non-physical, the very embodiment of the Trickster archetype.
I propose a slightly different metaphor through which we can view the unexplained: liquidity. I'm reminded of a brief passage I wrote in A Trojan Feast:*
One would be hard-pressed to choose a more fitting substance than liquid to serve as a metaphor for the UFO phenomenon. Like UFOs, liquids are mutable, changeable, and adaptable. They conform to their environment, with fixed volume but no consistent shape, similar to the “fluid” rules UFOs abide by. They are literal “shape-shifters.” Liquid exists in the liminal zone between solids—our rigid, earthly reality—and gas, the invisible, ephemeral realm. How much sense would it make if we found out some day that Fortean phenomena could navigate these “phase transitions of reality,” similar to the manner in which water can be frozen or boiled?
It is, in essence, all the same thing. I am quite attracted to this notion of "phase transitions of reality" and, coupled with the ever-blurring line between the objective and subjective, it seems to have a great deal of worth when discussing All Things Strange.
Too often, researchers spend so much time trying to fit the paranormal into discreet boxes that they never stop to consider the notion that there may be no boxes whatsoever.
So, this being said, I issue a thought-experiment challenge to anyone interested in these subjects: spend one week thinking of your reality as divided into the solid (earthly plane), the liquid (paranormal plane), and the gaseous (spirituality), and see how it changes your thinking about these subjects.
You never know what may happen.
*I promise this post isn't just another attempt to push my book. "I often quote myself. It adds spice to my conversation." - George Bernard Shaw
