From Robert A. Monroe, Journeys Out Of the Body (pages 34-39 in the revised 1977 edition) comes this amusing overview of the "underground." His description applies to the early 1960s.
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It was at this point that I discovered the existence of an underground in the United States. The only factor missing is that no laws exist against its function nor is there official persecution and prosecution involved. This underground only occasionally intermingles in part with the worlds of business, science, politics, academia, and the so-called arts. Furthermore, it definitely is not limited to the United States, but infiltrates all of Western civilization.
Many people may have heard of it vaguely or casually have come in contact with it, and passed it off as just people with queer ideas. For one thing is usually certain: members of this underground who are respected in their communities don't talk about the interest or beliefs that qualify them for membership unless they know that you too are in the club. They have learned from experience that to be outspoken brings censure -- from their ministers, customers, employers, even friends.
I suspect the membership may run into millions -- if all would admit to their qualification. They are found in all walks of life: scientists, psychiatrists, physicians, housewives, college students, businessmen, teen-agers, and at least a few ministers in formal religions.
This group meets all the qualifications of an underground movement. They gather in small groups, quietly and often semi-secretly. (The events are often publicly announced, but you have to be "with it" before you can understand the notice.) The participants usually discuss affairs of the underground only with other members. Other than family or close friends (who are probably also members), the community doesn't know of this secret interest and life of the underground member. If you asked him, he would deny such membership because often he doesn't realize he really is so associated. All are to some degree emotionally and intellectually dedicated to a cause. Finally, the underground has its own literature, language, technology, and to some extent demigods.
At this moment, this underground is highly disorganized. In fact, there is no organization whatsoever in the usual sense of the word. Rarely, even, have the local groups gone so far as to adopt a title or name for themselves. So far, they are simply small regular gatherings held in someone's living room, or a bank's conference room, or quite possibly the church rectory. This group of individuals is groping in the dark and seems to take many diverse pathways -- yet the goal is the same for all. However, like other kinds of underground movements, if you have become a member and you visit another city, you inevitably meet other members. It isn't planned. It just "happens."...
For the underground consumer, there are magazines, newspapers, lectures, book clubs (at least fifty new underground books are published each year, many by top houses), and even TV and radio programs. The latter, evidently put together by overeager members, have not been successful because the underground is still very much a minority group. The basic public reaction is: "You don't really believe in that stuff, do you?"
Who, then, makes up the mass of this underground? Contrary to what one might expect, they are not merely a conglomerate of silly, uneducated, superstitious, unreasoning misfits. True, some of the like are included, but at no greater percentage than is found in the general population. As a matter of fact, if it could be surveyed, it is quite probable that their average IQ would be far above that of a general cross section of Western humanity.
The common bond or cause that draws them together is simple. All have a belief that (1) man's Inner Self is neither understood nor fully appreciated in our contemporary society; and (2) this Inner Self has capabilities to act and perform mentally and materially to a degree unknown and unrecognized by modern science. These are people whose prime avocation is to read, talk, think, discuss, and participate in anything "psychic" or "spiritual." This is all that is needed for membership. Perhaps you are in the club and didn't realize it.
How do these people "get" that way? The most common answer is to experience or be a part of some phenomenon that cannot be explained by modern scientific, philosophic, or religious teachings. One type of person shrugs it off, sweeps in under the rug, and forgets about it. The other, who eventually becomes a member, tries to find some answers...
I enjoy the people I have met in the underground. I found them in small towns, big cities, in businesses, in church groups, in universities, and even in the American Psychiatric Association! As a rule, they are truly gentle people. They are jolly, with a warm sense of humor. They are a happy group who can laugh when necessary at their own serious interests. Whether intentionally or not, they are the most altruistic and empathetic cross section of humanity I have known. It must be no accident that they are the most religious in the true sense of the word.
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Nowadays, some of this has changed. TV shows about the paranormal are mainstream. People are less shy about admitting to an interest in this topic. And there are far more than fifty books a year published in this genre.
Guy Playfair seems to be right: CSICOP has lost the Thirty Years War.
I think that the Internet will put the final touches on csicop's thirty-year war. This war has been about as successful as the war on drugs, war on poverty, Vietnam War, and the Iraq war.
A person put my series of dreams (visions/visitations?) on his website and I have received emails from all over the world. Information sharing took a profound increase with the introduction of the Internet.
These paranormal phenomena have always occurred but they were shared with a small number of people, the Internet changed that.
I doubt if I will lose any sleep over ciscop losing this war.
Posted by: william | June 12, 2007 at 11:39 PM
This resonates with me...
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The most common answer is to experience or be a part of some phenomenon that cannot be explained by modern scientific, philosophic, or religious teachings. One type of person shrugs it off, sweeps in under the rug, and forgets about it. The other, who eventually becomes a member, tries to find some answers.
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I am glad that I was the second type..
Posted by: Satya | June 13, 2007 at 02:12 AM
Satya here is a quote from one of my favorite authors: "most of us want to believe rather than inquire, to be disciples rather than investigators". (Gunnels) from his book entitled "the evolution of the soul" with a subtitle "a theory that: all of creation is relative".
At what point if ever do we become disciples and submit to a path; or can we submit to a path and continue to investigate.
My observations have been that once we become “believers” it becomes very difficult for someone to continue being investigator’s, because it appears that we filter new incoming information if it does not fit our beliefs.
One of my research interests has been how beliefs can overwhelm our rational minds. We see this phenomenon in the religious, atheists, and skeptics alike and this phenomenon is almost impossible to observe in ourselves.
Posted by: william | June 13, 2007 at 02:34 PM