How to Judge Borderzone Posts

Those interested in the Beyond as a serious study are a minute fraction of humanity. But lest I be misunderstood, let me make some distinctions. Lots of people are into lots of peripheral or adjacent matters like channeling spirits by means of mediums, into psychic phenomena, the paranormal, UFOs, magic, serendipity, etc. And huge numbers are active in all manner of religious studies and participate in the social interactions of believers. But society has never produced—surprise!—a recognizable specialization in the study of the borderzone, the kind of study recognizable by name, e.g., a name like “astronomy” or “anthropology.” The nearest thing we have is mysticism, which is in part a theory of union with God; in common parlance the word is more analogous to a sport than to a science. It is applied to people who cultivate “states” rather than people who comprehensively study the reality—or possible reality—of a … well… a greater Reality. We have no mystonomy (thus a structure of laws) nor a mystology (a doctrine or theory). Such studies do take place, but they do so under other umbrellas, these days in fields like philosophy, theology, psychology, parapsychology, and paranormal investigations. In the past the same studies were hidden under early studies of chemistry, known to us today as alchemy.

Here is the interesting fact. In religious eras (or today in religious regions) studies of this sort are suppressed by militant, doctrinaire religious institutions. In secular times (like now, here) they are dismissed, marginalized, and explained away as unreal. They are deprived of any societal standing and hence somewhat starved of talent too. The very few who wander into these thickets are originals. People who visit this site very often click the About tab—and I can just feel what they feel. They are looking for credentials. But in this field, you’ll never get credentials in the field. There is no field. Here and there you’ll discover credentials or certifications in some other specialty (philosophy, anthropology, etc.). But on my site you’ll find what? A novelist, a man of affairs? Not exactly what people seek. The authority, such as it is, lies in the postings themselves and what meanings they contain—and the inner agreement they elicit or the negative emotions they trigger in the reader. But many a reader doesn’t trust his or her own reaction. He or she wants additional confirmation, reassurance. Sorry about that, folks. Believe it or not, in these zones on the border, you are on your own. You’ve got to go by your own light.