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A Genealogy of the Extraterrestrial in American Culture

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space bro<strong>the</strong>r religion, The Great I AM, began as an <strong>American</strong> popularization <strong>of</strong> Theosophy.<br />

CONCLUSION<br />

Thus <strong>the</strong> Great I AM, generally understood to be <strong>the</strong> first true “space bro<strong>the</strong>r” religion, should be<br />

situated <strong>in</strong> a l<strong>in</strong>eage that beg<strong>in</strong>s with <strong>American</strong> Spiritualism and its predecessors. This l<strong>in</strong>eage,<br />

as discussed <strong>in</strong> <strong>the</strong> preced<strong>in</strong>g chapter, established a key set <strong>of</strong> practices and understand<strong>in</strong>gs<br />

regard<strong>in</strong>g <strong>the</strong> O<strong>the</strong>r. The trance state or somnambulism was central to all <strong>the</strong> cases thus far<br />

discussed. Through <strong>the</strong>se <strong>in</strong>terstitial states <strong>of</strong> consciousness l<strong>in</strong>es <strong>of</strong> communication with <strong>the</strong><br />

O<strong>the</strong>r were opened. “Only <strong>in</strong> <strong>the</strong>se conditions <strong>of</strong> partial psychic dissolution…do <strong>the</strong>se hidden<br />

faculties make <strong>the</strong>ir power and presence felt.” 136<br />

Those most likely to open such channels were<br />

<strong>in</strong>dividuals who were somatically delicate, socially marg<strong>in</strong>al and/or <strong>of</strong> <strong>in</strong>determ<strong>in</strong>ate gender—<br />

“clever girls, philosophic Bohemians, weak women—and weaker men.” 137<br />

The O<strong>the</strong>rs<br />

<strong>the</strong>mselves were recognizably human and subject to most foibles afflict<strong>in</strong>g <strong>the</strong> species, barr<strong>in</strong>g<br />

<strong>the</strong> grosser manifestations <strong>of</strong> physical be<strong>in</strong>g. The uncanny aspects <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong>se O<strong>the</strong>rs were conf<strong>in</strong>ed<br />

to <strong>the</strong>ir po<strong>in</strong>t <strong>of</strong> orig<strong>in</strong>, <strong>the</strong> knowledge <strong>the</strong>y possessed, and <strong>the</strong>ir ghostly mode <strong>of</strong> self<br />

presentation. The messages <strong>the</strong>y conveyed ranged from <strong>the</strong> banal to <strong>the</strong> pr<strong>of</strong>ound to <strong>the</strong><br />

<strong>in</strong>comprehensible.<br />

We see emerg<strong>in</strong>g from our brief survey <strong>of</strong> Spiritualism and its forbearers a set <strong>of</strong> tensions<br />

that def<strong>in</strong>e <strong>the</strong> terra<strong>in</strong> <strong>of</strong> communication between human and O<strong>the</strong>r. The primary tension was<br />

between a movement toward <strong>in</strong>tegration and one toward dis<strong>in</strong>tegration—a centripetal and<br />

centrifugal movement. As a centripetal or <strong>in</strong>tegrat<strong>in</strong>g movement, <strong>the</strong> communion <strong>of</strong> mortal and<br />

spirit promised <strong>the</strong> natural and logical extension <strong>of</strong> humanity’s progressive mastery over matter,<br />

136 Podmore, 358.<br />

137 Basham, 121.<br />

78

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