The Super Naturalconsiders that the natural world is actually a 'super natural world'-and all we have to do to see this is to change the lenses through which we are looking at it and the languages through which we are presently limiting it. In short- The extraordinary exists if we know how to look at and think about it.
Whitley Streiber is best known for his groundbreaking memoir Communion, which popularised the alien-abduction thesis. Jeffrey J. Kripal is the J. Newton Rayzor Professor of Philosophy and Religious Thought and chair of the Department of Religious Studies at Rice University.
"A cohesive reframing of the 'pantheon of the unknown' ... A
thought-provoking, intelligent reconceptualization of supernatural
events." -Kirkus Reviews "This book is a dream come true. It has
taken thirty years for the most articulate of abductees to be taken
seriously by a senior academic. This dialogue between the famous
abductee and the historian of religions is the first major step in
ufology since Jacques Vallee's writings of the 1990s. Whitley
Strieber's intelligence and honesty compel one to take his
experiences seriously, though they may sweep the philosophical
ground from under our feet. In taking up the challenge, Jeffrey
Kripal avoids the simplistic reactions of both skeptic and true
believer. Instead of pretending to have the answers, he asks
mind-bending questions, whose very asking is an act of
self-transformation. Their conversation sets off sparks that should
rekindle the search after "rejected knowledge," and integrate it
with the great paradigm change of our time: the end of
materialism." --Joscelyn Godwin, Colgate University"Requires the
reader to avoid the first great pitfall of thinking that
'skepticism' and belief are the only two options ... very well
written, surprisingly light, and fast-paced ... They don't pretend
to have answers, but we get the feeling the right questions lie in
this direction. Every serious fortean needs to read it."--Bob
Rickard, Fortean Times
"If reading The Super Natural doesn't make your hair stand straight
up, you need to read it again. This book is at once disturbing and
disorienting, fascinating and lucid. Its 'new vision of the
unexplained' dives headfirst into all sorts of strange but true
encounters, from ravishing alien goddesses to loathsome blue
gremlins. While this domain of human experience remains strictly
taboo, it doesn't stop hundreds of thousands of ordinary people
from continuing to report bizarre encounters with we know not what.
This remarkable book does not attempt to explain what is going on.
But it does crack open your head long enough to provide a new
perspective." -Dean Radin, Chief Scientist, Institute of Noetic
Sciences and author of Supernormal; Entangled Minds; and The
Conscious Universe"Something is happening here, and we're not sure
what it is, but Kripal and Strieber have a clue: if there are
aliens among us, they are ourselves, and we seem eager to make
contact. This is a brilliant, provocative, and gripping new inquiry
into the mysteries of time, space, and the human -- and not so
human -- mind. Absolutely captivating; one could even say I was
abducted..." -Gary Lachman, author of The Secret Teachers of the
Western World "A modern day descent into the rabbit hole, The Super
Natural will blow your mind wide open, overturn beliefs about
reality and the imagination, and challenge preconceived notions
about life, death, and what falls in-between. Erudite,
illuminating, and thoroughly exciting (not to mention quite funny
at times), Strieber and Kripal's collaboration takes a serious look
at what many would consider an unserious subject and have written
the most thought-provoking and important book on the essence and
nature of unexplained phenomena in more than forty years." -Gary
Jansen, author of Holy Ghosts "Fascination with the UFO phenomenon
and with its extreme forms found in 'abduction' reports has
triggered passionate debates about the nature of the
manifestations, the reliability of human testimony, and the
unavoidable parallels with initiatory states and certain mystical
visions. Yet the ambiguity of the relationship with the creatures
involved has remained unresolved. The controversy has reactivated
fundamental debates about the role of archetypes, the power of the
unconscious, and the transcendental meaning of sex. A novel way to
approach the problem emerges in this exceptional book -- the
product of a dialogue between an articulate experiencer and an
erudite historian of religions. In the process we discover that the
experiencer is also something of a historian, and the historian
confesses he has not been untouched by the experience...What is at
stake is nothing less than the nature of our reality, and our
ability as humans to grasp levels of perception that are at once so
dangerous and so sublime." -Jacques Vallee, author of Passport to
Magonia, Forbidden Science, and Wonders in the Sky "Practically
anything goes at the American Academy of Religion's annual
conference...What was almost impossible to find, at this orgy of
intellectual curiosities, was discussion of the paranormal: ESP,
premonitions, psychic powers, alien abduction and the like. This is
a conference concerned with all sorts of supernatural and
metaphysical claims....So why nothing about, say, mental telepathy?
That is the question posed by Jeffrey J. Kripal, a professor of
religion at Rice University in Houston and a renegade advocate for
including the paranormal in religious studies." -The New York
Times
"No matter your beliefs, Strieber's writing has impact." -Library
Journal
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