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The Super Natural: A New Vision of the Unexplained
Two of today's maverick authors on anomalous experience present a perception-altering and intellectually thrilling analysis of why the paranormal is real, but radically different from what is conventionally
understood.
Whitley Strieber ( Communion ) and Jeffrey J. Kripal (J. Newton Rayzor professor of religion at Rice University) team up on this unprecedented and intellectually vibrant new framing of inexplicable events and experiences.
Rather than merely document the anomalous, these authors--one the man who popularized alien abduction and the other a renowned scholar and "renegade advocate for including the paranormal in religious studies" ( The New York Times )--deliver a fast-paced and exhilarating study of why the supernatural is neither fantasy nor fiction but a vital and authentic aspect of life.
Their suggestion? That all kinds of "impossible" things, from extra-dimensional beings to bilocation to bumps in the night, are not impossible at rather, they are a part of our natural world. But this natural world is immeasurably more weird, more wonderful, and probably more populated than we have so far imagined with our current categories and cultures, which are what really make these things seem "impossible."
The Super Natural considers 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 The extraordinary exists if we know how to look at and think about it.
understood.
Whitley Strieber ( Communion ) and Jeffrey J. Kripal (J. Newton Rayzor professor of religion at Rice University) team up on this unprecedented and intellectually vibrant new framing of inexplicable events and experiences.
Rather than merely document the anomalous, these authors--one the man who popularized alien abduction and the other a renowned scholar and "renegade advocate for including the paranormal in religious studies" ( The New York Times )--deliver a fast-paced and exhilarating study of why the supernatural is neither fantasy nor fiction but a vital and authentic aspect of life.
Their suggestion? That all kinds of "impossible" things, from extra-dimensional beings to bilocation to bumps in the night, are not impossible at rather, they are a part of our natural world. But this natural world is immeasurably more weird, more wonderful, and probably more populated than we have so far imagined with our current categories and cultures, which are what really make these things seem "impossible."
The Super Natural considers 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 The extraordinary exists if we know how to look at and think about it.
365 pages, Hardcover
First published February 2, 2016
192 people are currently reading
1451 people want to read
About the author
Whitley Strieber
152 books1,250 followersAmerican writer best known for his novels The Wolfen,The Hunger and Warday and for Communion, a non-fiction description of his experiences with apparent alien contact. He has recently made significant advances in understanding this phenomenon, and has published his new discoveries in Solving the Communion Enigma.
Strieber also co-authored The Coming Global Superstorm with Art Bell, which inspired the blockbuster film about sudden climate change, The Day After Tomorrow.
His book The Afterlife Revolution written with his deceased wife Anne, is a record of what is considered to be one of the most powerful instances of afterlife communication ever recorded.
Strieber also co-authored The Coming Global Superstorm with Art Bell, which inspired the blockbuster film about sudden climate change, The Day After Tomorrow.
His book The Afterlife Revolution written with his deceased wife Anne, is a record of what is considered to be one of the most powerful instances of afterlife communication ever recorded.
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June 20, 2024
The Super Natural:
A New Vision of the Unexplained
By Whitley Strieber and
Jeffrey J. Kripal
This was an interesting read, but at times, I felt they were just repeating themselves.
A New Vision of the Unexplained
By Whitley Strieber and
Jeffrey J. Kripal
This was an interesting read, but at times, I felt they were just repeating themselves.
April 17, 2016
This one is kind of bonkers if you think the world and the universe around it are pretty much known things. If you're less certain (just what is dark matter, anyway, and why is there so much of it?) then the you may find the ideas presented to be intriguing, even as the authors make no absolute claims on any of the evidence they bring forward.
The premise of The Super Natural is that the various unknown phenomena reported around the world--everything from UFOs to alien abductions, apparitions, implants, strange lights and more--are real and explainable, and point to a larger reality that most people lack the perception and skill to interact with in a meaningful way, or even at all. Further, they suggest the possibility of parallel universes that may intersect with ours at times. On top of that, there's a lot of theory on what happens after you die and whether or not the soul exists. Finally, there is a common belief between the authors that some kind of intelligent plasma energy may be behind most of this.
Pretty bonkers, right?
Whitley Strieber is well-known for his books about what he calls the visitors, starting with Communion. His experiences have been largely ignored by mainstream media or openly mocked (he expresses regret for coming up with the phrase "rectal probe", two words that have launched a thousand jokes over the past thirty years). His chapters largely consist of him recalling and expanding on experiences he has previously described, as well as bringing in some new ones. He offers theories but is very careful to commit to none of them, keeping his mind open to other possibilities. He doesn't think the visitors are aliens from another planet, a common misconception people have with his experiences.
Jeff Kripal is a historian of religions and his chapters focus more specifically on the theories behind what may be going on, with different techniques offered as part of a "toolbox" for examining and cataloguing the unknown.
In a few instances the authors disagree on specifics but overall they present a united front in believing the likeliest explanations of all this weird stuff lies in intelligent plasma energy that exists perhaps in a dimension outside of ours and may be trying to teach those who are receptive what lies beyond our physical form and physical dimension. There are suggestions that these other beings live outside of normal space and time and to them we seem pretty primitive with our living and dying and not being able to fly around as spooky balls of energy. But the good news is they consider us teachable.
There are no good explanations on why these more advanced forms of life want to teach us or why they are being relatively coy about it (I say relatively because there are thousands of UFO sightings, for example, and even well-documented cases rarely get reported by conventional media, so while these various phenomena may be unknown, they are not exactly rare). Perhaps we're just really slow learners. Maybe our nukes scare them. They still kind of scare me.
Kripal in particular also goes into detail about what is real versus fictional or imagined and how we may essentially make our own reality. One example he recounts is about an academic colleague who was making blueberry muffins (mmm). He finished mixing the wet ingredients then rinsed out and set the empty honey jar on the sink counter to dry. He went to get a tin of flour off a shelf and, surprised by how unusually heavy it felt, dropped it on the floor. He sifted through the spilled flour and found the honey jar, caked in the flour. He looked at the counter. The jar was no longer there. It had moved on its own. Neat! And weird.
Kripal explains:
He goes on to say these odd events happen to "mess with us" (that is a direct quote), to shake up our view of the world as one in which the mental and physical are separate things. It's all very trippy, like trying to count to infinity.
In the end a skeptic is unlikely to be convinced by the evidence presented by Strieber and Kripal, but their ideas are interesting and entertainingly presented. The way they both hold back from making absolute claims seems less a dodge and more a genuine admission that they--and us--really don't know for sure what it happening out there. But something certainly seems to be.
Meanwhile, I can't even get the TV remote to teleport into my hand. If the mental and physical are really one, I wouldn't mind at least a few perks before evolving into a super-intelligent ball of light.
The premise of The Super Natural is that the various unknown phenomena reported around the world--everything from UFOs to alien abductions, apparitions, implants, strange lights and more--are real and explainable, and point to a larger reality that most people lack the perception and skill to interact with in a meaningful way, or even at all. Further, they suggest the possibility of parallel universes that may intersect with ours at times. On top of that, there's a lot of theory on what happens after you die and whether or not the soul exists. Finally, there is a common belief between the authors that some kind of intelligent plasma energy may be behind most of this.
Pretty bonkers, right?
Whitley Strieber is well-known for his books about what he calls the visitors, starting with Communion. His experiences have been largely ignored by mainstream media or openly mocked (he expresses regret for coming up with the phrase "rectal probe", two words that have launched a thousand jokes over the past thirty years). His chapters largely consist of him recalling and expanding on experiences he has previously described, as well as bringing in some new ones. He offers theories but is very careful to commit to none of them, keeping his mind open to other possibilities. He doesn't think the visitors are aliens from another planet, a common misconception people have with his experiences.
Jeff Kripal is a historian of religions and his chapters focus more specifically on the theories behind what may be going on, with different techniques offered as part of a "toolbox" for examining and cataloguing the unknown.
In a few instances the authors disagree on specifics but overall they present a united front in believing the likeliest explanations of all this weird stuff lies in intelligent plasma energy that exists perhaps in a dimension outside of ours and may be trying to teach those who are receptive what lies beyond our physical form and physical dimension. There are suggestions that these other beings live outside of normal space and time and to them we seem pretty primitive with our living and dying and not being able to fly around as spooky balls of energy. But the good news is they consider us teachable.
There are no good explanations on why these more advanced forms of life want to teach us or why they are being relatively coy about it (I say relatively because there are thousands of UFO sightings, for example, and even well-documented cases rarely get reported by conventional media, so while these various phenomena may be unknown, they are not exactly rare). Perhaps we're just really slow learners. Maybe our nukes scare them. They still kind of scare me.
Kripal in particular also goes into detail about what is real versus fictional or imagined and how we may essentially make our own reality. One example he recounts is about an academic colleague who was making blueberry muffins (mmm). He finished mixing the wet ingredients then rinsed out and set the empty honey jar on the sink counter to dry. He went to get a tin of flour off a shelf and, surprised by how unusually heavy it felt, dropped it on the floor. He sifted through the spilled flour and found the honey jar, caked in the flour. He looked at the counter. The jar was no longer there. It had moved on its own. Neat! And weird.
Kripal explains:
Apparently, that is what the human mind-brain does when it is participating in a dimension of reality that is quite beyond our primitive “mental” and “material” categories of thinking (and our primitive science, which assumes the same division to work at all). It tells itself a story that involves otherwise impossible things and then acts out that story with physical objects. If those objects are available in the immediate environment, it uses them as props, like Dan’s honey jar. If they are not, it creates them “out of nowhere.”
He goes on to say these odd events happen to "mess with us" (that is a direct quote), to shake up our view of the world as one in which the mental and physical are separate things. It's all very trippy, like trying to count to infinity.
In the end a skeptic is unlikely to be convinced by the evidence presented by Strieber and Kripal, but their ideas are interesting and entertainingly presented. The way they both hold back from making absolute claims seems less a dodge and more a genuine admission that they--and us--really don't know for sure what it happening out there. But something certainly seems to be.
Meanwhile, I can't even get the TV remote to teleport into my hand. If the mental and physical are really one, I wouldn't mind at least a few perks before evolving into a super-intelligent ball of light.
April 1, 2017
Highly intelligent and articulate exploration of unexplained phenomena (focusing primarily on the contact experiences of Whitley Strieber) through the lens of cultural narrative, the distinctions between phenomena and noumena (what is apparent vs what really is) history, religious comparison, human evolution, and philosophy. A definite recommendation to anyone who would like to seriously explore what is often a highly contested and ridiculed subject; UFOlogy and the contactee experience.
February 28, 2016
During the late 1980's and into the 90's, there was an unprecedented explosion of what was considered New Age Books, and writings. We collectively learned about reincarnation, chakras, out of body exploration, meditation, yoga, any and all religious philosophy of: thought, history, comparisons, evaluations, etc., as these all were explored in multifaceted ways. We also learned of and read on the UFO experience, and Whitley Strieber was perhaps the leader, albeit not purposely, of this field. His explorations, discoveries, and confessions left not a stone unturned and were in an explicit New Age couching as they reached deeply into all of the aforementioned New Age categories, because of their very marrow.
How this concerns us now is how it effectively distills our collective explorations and brings it to a critical theory where by we can examine our learnings through a lens using a common language and view for which we had not previously.
This is an important book. It is a frontier, and using it to embark forward is where its true power will lay.
I could not recommend this work any more strongly.
How this concerns us now is how it effectively distills our collective explorations and brings it to a critical theory where by we can examine our learnings through a lens using a common language and view for which we had not previously.
This is an important book. It is a frontier, and using it to embark forward is where its true power will lay.
I could not recommend this work any more strongly.
January 1, 2017
It's not simply another speculation on aliens or paranormal phenomena. It is a radically insightful and well written exploration of what reality may or may not be, what consciousness may be, and what our mythologies have to reach us about our experience of being. (This doesn't summarize it adequately but it's a start)
It's truly mind expanding- and I say this as a person who has read a fair share of UFO/paranormal/consciousness/psychedelic literature. This book made me think in ways I had not previously. And I think that's just about the most profoundly complimentary thing one can say about a book.
It's truly mind expanding- and I say this as a person who has read a fair share of UFO/paranormal/consciousness/psychedelic literature. This book made me think in ways I had not previously. And I think that's just about the most profoundly complimentary thing one can say about a book.
August 13, 2022
[this review was written on amazon initially]
This book is about a shamanic postmodern tantra of alien communion.
I loved this book and I was a little disappointed toward the end as well. Basically this book alternates chapters by Whitley Strieber and Jeffery Kripal riffing/reflecting on each other’s thoughts. The subject is primarily Alien contact experiences.
Strieber talks mostly of his own experiences, the development of his though on the experiences and how he relates this to Kripal’s concerns.
Kripal brings different frames that he thinks will enhance the conversation. Many of these frames are implicitly used by Whitley and other writers of anomalous experiences but often implicitly, by making them explicit we gain greater control over the kind of story we make, the kind of study we undertake.
Of the multiple frames Kripal introduced I found the following six most useful:
Comparison "if we collect enough seemingly anecdotal or anomalous experiences from different times and places and place them together on a fair comparative table, we can quickly see that these reports are neither anecdotal nor anomalous. We can see that they are actually common occurrences in the species. They are part of our world. They are ‘natural,’ as we say, even if each of them is also rare with respect to any particular individual, and all of them are ‘super,’ that is, beyond how we presently understand how this natural world works.”
This is basically the first step anyone takes when getting interested in any anomalous/rare experiences, search through history and see how common it is, what variations there are.
Phenomenology: Though this is a complex philosophical movement, in this context it is simply the practice of engaging/inquiring with experience as it “appears” and temporarily putting aside how it might relate to the “objective world.” As Whitney says: “I am reporting a perception, not making a claim, and there is a world of difference between those two approaches.”
“This practice will enable us to be faithful to what actually appeared and is being reported without immediately believing or dismissing it. Making the cut [using phenomenology] will free us to talk about the impossible without it sounding impossible. [Kripal]”
Historical contextualization: Kripal argues for the usefulness of contextualizing anomalous experiences while arguing against a prevalent tendency in the academy to using historical contextualization to explain away the possible universal significance of all meanings/truths.
Kripal makes a glib and amusing reflection: “I do not think it is too much of a simplification to suggest that the entire history of religions can be summed up this way: strange super beings from the sky come down to interact with human beings, provide them with cultural, technological, legal, and ethical knowledge, guide them, scare the crap out of them, demand their submission and obedience, have sex with them(often forcefully), and generally terrorize, awe, baffle, inspire, and use them.”
He further argues against reducing myths to misunderstood science or apparently advanced science [UFO] to simply older myths. Instead we should keep the tension between these two reductive tendencies and allow each poll to inform, enrich and challenge our stories.
Hermeneutics (interpretation): He focuses mostly of two aspects of hermeneutics, its suspicious enactments which look for hidden meanings and the feedback loop of understanding between subject who understands and the objects of understanding. This loop is not stable but endlessly influencing and changing each poll.
“I am thinking of films like The Never ending Story(1984), Stranger than Fiction(2006), and the Adjustment Bureau (2011)…the story revolves around a protagonist engaging his own life as a fictional story being written either in this world or in another, seemingly by someone else. As he reads and interprets the text of his life, however, he discovers that its story or plot changes. He discovers the circle or loop of hermeneutics. He discovers that as he engages his cultural script as text creatively and critically he his rereading and rewriting himself. He is changing the story”
He also spends a lot of time talking about the origin of the idea of the imaginal [both as symbolic and empirical forms). This is very interesting but a little too complex to talk/quote about in a review.
Erotics: Kripal argues for the centrality of the erotic in this study, the erotic from Plato’s Eros, to Freud’s Libido to Tantra’s energies and transformations. Here he recounts his own interesting experiences in India with the “goddess Kali”. This also lays a bridge for his sympathetic reading of
Whitley Strieber.
“ What was Whitley Strieber’s crime? What did he do that was so wrong…..Not only did he speak secrets in public, but he spoke reverently and fearfully of a divine presence that was feminine, that broke and rode him like a horse…by doing so, he spoke of a presence at the very heart of the unconscious of the religious West, a presence that has been repressed and denied for three millennia. He spoke of Her.”
Traumatic secret: Here he writes about how trauma can often be a breaking open into both madness or/and transcendence. Near death experiences, traumatic abuse, violent accidents and alien encounters are often described by people as moments of breakage from a social/egoic trace into greater numinous[awe full reality] space.
“It is only a thought. I do not know. I want to be very humble here and stress the complexities…Still, here is the thought. If the ego is ready to let go, then it will be more likely to experience an encounter wit the sacred Alien or Other as extremely positive, as redemptive, as ecstatic. If, on the other hand, the ego is not ready to let go of itself, then it will be more likely to experience an encounter with the sacred as extremely negative, as terrifying, as destructive.”
My only criticisms of the book are some of its looseness with terms toward the end.
There is a lot of imprecision in the use of the word mystical. All anomalous experiences get packed into the tent of mystical experiences at times which is not helpful. Whitley’s experiences are not the same as Meister Eckhart’s of the Godhead. I understand how interpretively they may be using similar devices [Hermeneutics] but the phenomena they talk about is vastly different in my opinion. Also mystical practices are concerned with stable changes of states and character, while altered states are not necessarily so concerned. There is some overlap but I think it has to be spelled out much more clearly to be knowledge enhancing and not just mudding the water.
Also some of the riffs on the physical sciences and quantum physics are cringe worthy. I think the perspective is important but just like Kripal brought a sophisticated humanities perspective, you need a sympathetic scientist [there are a few] to really get any substantive insights from the scientific viewpoint.
Anyway, I only talked about some of the frames that are explored much more in depth in the book.
For anyone with an interest in Ufo’s, paranormal studies, or religious studies this is highly recommended. If you don’t have an interest in any of these three why did you read this review?
This book is about a shamanic postmodern tantra of alien communion.
I loved this book and I was a little disappointed toward the end as well. Basically this book alternates chapters by Whitley Strieber and Jeffery Kripal riffing/reflecting on each other’s thoughts. The subject is primarily Alien contact experiences.
Strieber talks mostly of his own experiences, the development of his though on the experiences and how he relates this to Kripal’s concerns.
Kripal brings different frames that he thinks will enhance the conversation. Many of these frames are implicitly used by Whitley and other writers of anomalous experiences but often implicitly, by making them explicit we gain greater control over the kind of story we make, the kind of study we undertake.
Of the multiple frames Kripal introduced I found the following six most useful:
Comparison "if we collect enough seemingly anecdotal or anomalous experiences from different times and places and place them together on a fair comparative table, we can quickly see that these reports are neither anecdotal nor anomalous. We can see that they are actually common occurrences in the species. They are part of our world. They are ‘natural,’ as we say, even if each of them is also rare with respect to any particular individual, and all of them are ‘super,’ that is, beyond how we presently understand how this natural world works.”
This is basically the first step anyone takes when getting interested in any anomalous/rare experiences, search through history and see how common it is, what variations there are.
Phenomenology: Though this is a complex philosophical movement, in this context it is simply the practice of engaging/inquiring with experience as it “appears” and temporarily putting aside how it might relate to the “objective world.” As Whitney says: “I am reporting a perception, not making a claim, and there is a world of difference between those two approaches.”
“This practice will enable us to be faithful to what actually appeared and is being reported without immediately believing or dismissing it. Making the cut [using phenomenology] will free us to talk about the impossible without it sounding impossible. [Kripal]”
Historical contextualization: Kripal argues for the usefulness of contextualizing anomalous experiences while arguing against a prevalent tendency in the academy to using historical contextualization to explain away the possible universal significance of all meanings/truths.
Kripal makes a glib and amusing reflection: “I do not think it is too much of a simplification to suggest that the entire history of religions can be summed up this way: strange super beings from the sky come down to interact with human beings, provide them with cultural, technological, legal, and ethical knowledge, guide them, scare the crap out of them, demand their submission and obedience, have sex with them(often forcefully), and generally terrorize, awe, baffle, inspire, and use them.”
He further argues against reducing myths to misunderstood science or apparently advanced science [UFO] to simply older myths. Instead we should keep the tension between these two reductive tendencies and allow each poll to inform, enrich and challenge our stories.
Hermeneutics (interpretation): He focuses mostly of two aspects of hermeneutics, its suspicious enactments which look for hidden meanings and the feedback loop of understanding between subject who understands and the objects of understanding. This loop is not stable but endlessly influencing and changing each poll.
“I am thinking of films like The Never ending Story(1984), Stranger than Fiction(2006), and the Adjustment Bureau (2011)…the story revolves around a protagonist engaging his own life as a fictional story being written either in this world or in another, seemingly by someone else. As he reads and interprets the text of his life, however, he discovers that its story or plot changes. He discovers the circle or loop of hermeneutics. He discovers that as he engages his cultural script as text creatively and critically he his rereading and rewriting himself. He is changing the story”
He also spends a lot of time talking about the origin of the idea of the imaginal [both as symbolic and empirical forms). This is very interesting but a little too complex to talk/quote about in a review.
Erotics: Kripal argues for the centrality of the erotic in this study, the erotic from Plato’s Eros, to Freud’s Libido to Tantra’s energies and transformations. Here he recounts his own interesting experiences in India with the “goddess Kali”. This also lays a bridge for his sympathetic reading of
Whitley Strieber.
“ What was Whitley Strieber’s crime? What did he do that was so wrong…..Not only did he speak secrets in public, but he spoke reverently and fearfully of a divine presence that was feminine, that broke and rode him like a horse…by doing so, he spoke of a presence at the very heart of the unconscious of the religious West, a presence that has been repressed and denied for three millennia. He spoke of Her.”
Traumatic secret: Here he writes about how trauma can often be a breaking open into both madness or/and transcendence. Near death experiences, traumatic abuse, violent accidents and alien encounters are often described by people as moments of breakage from a social/egoic trace into greater numinous[awe full reality] space.
“It is only a thought. I do not know. I want to be very humble here and stress the complexities…Still, here is the thought. If the ego is ready to let go, then it will be more likely to experience an encounter wit the sacred Alien or Other as extremely positive, as redemptive, as ecstatic. If, on the other hand, the ego is not ready to let go of itself, then it will be more likely to experience an encounter with the sacred as extremely negative, as terrifying, as destructive.”
My only criticisms of the book are some of its looseness with terms toward the end.
There is a lot of imprecision in the use of the word mystical. All anomalous experiences get packed into the tent of mystical experiences at times which is not helpful. Whitley’s experiences are not the same as Meister Eckhart’s of the Godhead. I understand how interpretively they may be using similar devices [Hermeneutics] but the phenomena they talk about is vastly different in my opinion. Also mystical practices are concerned with stable changes of states and character, while altered states are not necessarily so concerned. There is some overlap but I think it has to be spelled out much more clearly to be knowledge enhancing and not just mudding the water.
Also some of the riffs on the physical sciences and quantum physics are cringe worthy. I think the perspective is important but just like Kripal brought a sophisticated humanities perspective, you need a sympathetic scientist [there are a few] to really get any substantive insights from the scientific viewpoint.
Anyway, I only talked about some of the frames that are explored much more in depth in the book.
For anyone with an interest in Ufo’s, paranormal studies, or religious studies this is highly recommended. If you don’t have an interest in any of these three why did you read this review?
February 25, 2016
Uneven, postmodern, and uncommitted...typical cranky stuff coming out of universities these days.
Readers may easily give this a pass and miss out on nothing.
Rating: 2 out of 5 Stars
Readers may easily give this a pass and miss out on nothing.
Rating: 2 out of 5 Stars
October 19, 2017
Interesting read. A good guide how 'how to think about weird stuff' without falling into either of the twin pitfalls of complete gullibility/complete denial that weird things ever happen.--I was a bit surprised that there was no mention of Aleister Crowley's 'Aiwass' experiences, because that seems germane to the subject matter, as does the book 'After the Angel' by Marcus Katz, also not mentioned. Maybe neither author has read these, though it seems with their collective intelligence and curiosity, one of them would have. I preferred the sections written by the historian of religions, as he seemed a bit more able to sidestep his own ego (not trying to bash Mr. Strieber, here; I believe Mr. Kripal's ability comes with the academic training that he had to undergo to get his particular degree. Mr. Strieber's profession as a writer of fiction requires a more flourished hand.) A good beginning to the conversation, "Just what the heck IS reality, anyway?"
dnf
October 26, 2018dnf at 35%
the topic & anecdotes within the book were interesting, but if i had to listen to whitley talk about his sex life one more time....
the topic & anecdotes within the book were interesting, but if i had to listen to whitley talk about his sex life one more time....
November 9, 2019
This book addresses a topic that neither author can quite explain and don't claim to understand. If you're looking for sure answers or reassurance, this book won't provide it for you. If you're looking for debunkers, this book won't please you. But if you're looking for an honest and diligent inquiry into events that seem just too damned weird by two men who seem--at least on the written page--quite rational and sensible (some really weird stuff notwithstanding), then you might enjoy this book. I did.
This book consists of alternating chapters that create a virtual dialogue between Streiber, who has experienced some really weird stuff, and Kripal, a scholar of comparative religion. Streiber was a fiction writer who lived in the Hudson Valley with his wife Anne in the late 1980s when "beings" (for lack of a more exact term) began to appear in his presence and do things to him and around him. As I said, some really weird stuff. Strieber, in collaboration with his wife, began to write about these experiences. Once published (and he was an established writer already), Streiber and his wife learned that they were not alone in having experienced visitations from beings that defy any normal classification or description. The most value-neutral term that seems to apply is that Strieber experienced the "paranormal." And I repeat: in this book (I've not read his others), Strieber does not seem "crazy," although he reports crazy stuff happening to him.
Now there are various hypothesizes that one could generate to explain the "true nature" of Whitley's claims: a simple hoax (he sells a lot of books with his fantastic tales); a brain lesion that causes hallucinations (he checked for that--negative); something in the local water; disturbed "spirits;" and so on. And here is where Kripal comes in. Kripal, a scholar of comparative religion at Rice University, now concentrates his focus on the paranormal. (For a more thorough consideration of Kripal's back story, read my review of his book Flip.) Kripal has known Streiber for several years before writing this book and finds Strieber (in my words) a credible witness. But a witness to what? And by the way, what has this to do with religion?
Stop and consider what religions around the world share. The Scriptures of the Jews and Christians, the Quaran, tales of Greek and Norse gods, American Indian stories, tales of Hindu gods and avatars, Tibetan Buddhism, or Taoist tales. All religions have fantastic accounts that defy our current ideas about how "reality" works. No doubt much of this is the religious equivalent of sales puffery or the size of the fish that got away. And these accounts draw upon ancient ideas about science and reality that no longer receive credence in contemporary popular culture. Probably the most charitable and persuasive interpretation of religious narratives is that they serve as myths and metaphors from which we can draw guidance for our lives, as in Joseph Campbell's description of the Hero's Journey or Jungian archetypes that transcend our individual minds, in addition to the accounts of established religions. And in my lifetime, we have the phenomena of UFO sightings and accounts of visitors from "outer space." A version of mass hysteria? An uptick in UFO mania coincided with the Cold War. (And since the end of the Cold War and a change in focus in our primal fears, we've seen an uptick in zombie lore and tales that seem to capture the popular imagination.) All of these possibilities undoubtedly have some merit and truth in them, but do they (or like theories) exhaust the possibilities? Can any single theory account for Streiber's bizarre tales? Is this all about Streiber and his individual brain and mind? Or is there some other reality that has impinged upon Streiber's mind? If so, is this reality governed by contemporary popular ideas about physics and reality? If these experiences are all "in his head," where do they come from? His personal, fevered imagination? He's a writer--an artist!--after all, and he's written horror and speculative fiction. Is this an elaborate guise? Or is he subject to some mass psychosis?
Kripal doesn't believe that any of the possibilities set forth above provide an adequate account of what's going on with Strieber. Like a lawyer building a case, Kripal takes his readers one (alternating) chapter at a time through his attempt to provide a coherent, rational way thinking about Strieber's experiences. This writing duette with its alternating chapters allows both authors to riff upon one another's way of approaching the issues. Also, it provides us with Strieber's accounts in small, tolerable doses; otherwise, I might have cast Strieber's account aside as so much gobbledygook early on. Kripal's methodical, rational investigation of the stories and how to we might understand them provided a needed imprimatur for me.
So where does this book come out? In fact, neither Strieber nor Kripal pretends to provide a definitive account of these (and other) bizarre events. While both men believe in the "reality" of the events that Strieber recounts, neither man conveys any sense of certainty about any conclusions. The only conclusion that I took away is that neither man believes these events "supernatural." Instead, as the title suggests, they believe these events are "super natural." That is, these events are uncommon and not easily understood, but neither are they manifestations of something from "another realm," at least not a realm of the "supernatural" as understood in popular religion. These (in some sense) miraculous events are not the result of divine intervention, but a part of the fabric of reality. And if you think that reality is only what we experience in our daily, hum-drum lives, go read a (reputable) book about quantum physics.
So what do I conclude? I'm not sure at all, but I intend to follow Kripal further down the rabbit hole. What we're perceiving in these accounts is a challenge to accept as credible, but even more so, how we understand these tales that we've been told is the challenging puzzle that intrigues me.
Finally, I must say that the words of a man who saw a ghost kept repeating in my head as I read this book:
There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio, Than are dreamt of in your philosophy.
Perhaps Hamlet was right.
This book consists of alternating chapters that create a virtual dialogue between Streiber, who has experienced some really weird stuff, and Kripal, a scholar of comparative religion. Streiber was a fiction writer who lived in the Hudson Valley with his wife Anne in the late 1980s when "beings" (for lack of a more exact term) began to appear in his presence and do things to him and around him. As I said, some really weird stuff. Strieber, in collaboration with his wife, began to write about these experiences. Once published (and he was an established writer already), Streiber and his wife learned that they were not alone in having experienced visitations from beings that defy any normal classification or description. The most value-neutral term that seems to apply is that Strieber experienced the "paranormal." And I repeat: in this book (I've not read his others), Strieber does not seem "crazy," although he reports crazy stuff happening to him.
Now there are various hypothesizes that one could generate to explain the "true nature" of Whitley's claims: a simple hoax (he sells a lot of books with his fantastic tales); a brain lesion that causes hallucinations (he checked for that--negative); something in the local water; disturbed "spirits;" and so on. And here is where Kripal comes in. Kripal, a scholar of comparative religion at Rice University, now concentrates his focus on the paranormal. (For a more thorough consideration of Kripal's back story, read my review of his book Flip.) Kripal has known Streiber for several years before writing this book and finds Strieber (in my words) a credible witness. But a witness to what? And by the way, what has this to do with religion?
Stop and consider what religions around the world share. The Scriptures of the Jews and Christians, the Quaran, tales of Greek and Norse gods, American Indian stories, tales of Hindu gods and avatars, Tibetan Buddhism, or Taoist tales. All religions have fantastic accounts that defy our current ideas about how "reality" works. No doubt much of this is the religious equivalent of sales puffery or the size of the fish that got away. And these accounts draw upon ancient ideas about science and reality that no longer receive credence in contemporary popular culture. Probably the most charitable and persuasive interpretation of religious narratives is that they serve as myths and metaphors from which we can draw guidance for our lives, as in Joseph Campbell's description of the Hero's Journey or Jungian archetypes that transcend our individual minds, in addition to the accounts of established religions. And in my lifetime, we have the phenomena of UFO sightings and accounts of visitors from "outer space." A version of mass hysteria? An uptick in UFO mania coincided with the Cold War. (And since the end of the Cold War and a change in focus in our primal fears, we've seen an uptick in zombie lore and tales that seem to capture the popular imagination.) All of these possibilities undoubtedly have some merit and truth in them, but do they (or like theories) exhaust the possibilities? Can any single theory account for Streiber's bizarre tales? Is this all about Streiber and his individual brain and mind? Or is there some other reality that has impinged upon Streiber's mind? If so, is this reality governed by contemporary popular ideas about physics and reality? If these experiences are all "in his head," where do they come from? His personal, fevered imagination? He's a writer--an artist!--after all, and he's written horror and speculative fiction. Is this an elaborate guise? Or is he subject to some mass psychosis?
Kripal doesn't believe that any of the possibilities set forth above provide an adequate account of what's going on with Strieber. Like a lawyer building a case, Kripal takes his readers one (alternating) chapter at a time through his attempt to provide a coherent, rational way thinking about Strieber's experiences. This writing duette with its alternating chapters allows both authors to riff upon one another's way of approaching the issues. Also, it provides us with Strieber's accounts in small, tolerable doses; otherwise, I might have cast Strieber's account aside as so much gobbledygook early on. Kripal's methodical, rational investigation of the stories and how to we might understand them provided a needed imprimatur for me.
So where does this book come out? In fact, neither Strieber nor Kripal pretends to provide a definitive account of these (and other) bizarre events. While both men believe in the "reality" of the events that Strieber recounts, neither man conveys any sense of certainty about any conclusions. The only conclusion that I took away is that neither man believes these events "supernatural." Instead, as the title suggests, they believe these events are "super natural." That is, these events are uncommon and not easily understood, but neither are they manifestations of something from "another realm," at least not a realm of the "supernatural" as understood in popular religion. These (in some sense) miraculous events are not the result of divine intervention, but a part of the fabric of reality. And if you think that reality is only what we experience in our daily, hum-drum lives, go read a (reputable) book about quantum physics.
So what do I conclude? I'm not sure at all, but I intend to follow Kripal further down the rabbit hole. What we're perceiving in these accounts is a challenge to accept as credible, but even more so, how we understand these tales that we've been told is the challenging puzzle that intrigues me.
Finally, I must say that the words of a man who saw a ghost kept repeating in my head as I read this book:
There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio, Than are dreamt of in your philosophy.
Perhaps Hamlet was right.
January 25, 2018
A guy named Stan wrote a terrific review of this book. Read that. Also, this book has eye-opening and brain-thrashing ideas by Jeffrey Kripal. I had significant trouble relating to Streiber. The chapters alternate so I kept finding myself thinking, "When is that Rice professor gonna pipe up again."
One of the weirdest books I've ever read, though. So I loved that part.
One of the weirdest books I've ever read, though. So I loved that part.
September 28, 2023
Since his initial book Communion, Strieber has had a lot more time to digest and think about what happened and has continued to happen to him. He has had many more experiences with entities, appearing as both human and non-human. He has also been able to much more accustomed to it, the analogy he uses is breaking a wild horse until it’s comfortable being handled and ridden by humans.
The book is alternating chapters between Strieber giving personal experiences and reflections and Kripal providing different methods of interpretation of those experiences and reflections. Strieber and Kripal both believe these are not flesh and blood aliens that built a spaceship and flew to earth. Shamanistic or spiritual are better adjectives than technological in describing what he is saying. He seeks them out and has established communication and relationships with them.
I don’t know what to make of what Strieber says. I’m unsure what the value of Kripal brings, he seemed more of a hype girl or backup dancer to Strieber’s spotlight. Strieber’s experiences are so foreign to me and straight up crazy sounding, I struggle to know how to relate to them. He also describes some things that may have more mundane explanations in an alien lens (sometimes strangle homeless people are just strange homeless people and not aliens). It made me question the reliability of the narrator that anything that could be interpreted as alien, he will always interpret as alien. That being said, that still leaves a lot of unexplainable accounts.
The book is alternating chapters between Strieber giving personal experiences and reflections and Kripal providing different methods of interpretation of those experiences and reflections. Strieber and Kripal both believe these are not flesh and blood aliens that built a spaceship and flew to earth. Shamanistic or spiritual are better adjectives than technological in describing what he is saying. He seeks them out and has established communication and relationships with them.
I don’t know what to make of what Strieber says. I’m unsure what the value of Kripal brings, he seemed more of a hype girl or backup dancer to Strieber’s spotlight. Strieber’s experiences are so foreign to me and straight up crazy sounding, I struggle to know how to relate to them. He also describes some things that may have more mundane explanations in an alien lens (sometimes strangle homeless people are just strange homeless people and not aliens). It made me question the reliability of the narrator that anything that could be interpreted as alien, he will always interpret as alien. That being said, that still leaves a lot of unexplainable accounts.
February 27, 2016
Both Kripal and Strieber (I am tempted to call them Stripal for short) repeatedly assure us, the reader, that they are not interested in fomenting belief (which they consider “a dangerous response”) but in forging a new path between belief and dismissal, one which entails a more direct, experiential, gnosis-like encounter with the “super natural.” Yet the book I read was saturated in belief; it was a tract that aspires to being an apocalypse of thought, a manual for accessing the higher mind of super nature. (It even comes with its own seven-pronged methodology and a glossary to help us, the reader, stay on track as we plunge into the challenging new terrain.[1]) But for all its claims to be a shockingly new vision of the unexplained (claims backed up by Joscelyn Godwin, Jacques Vallee, and Dean Radin quotes on the back of the book), I found very little new about The Super Natural. What about Pauwels and Bergiers’ Morning of the Magicians in 1963, Fritjof Capra’s The Tao of Physics in 1975, Marilyn Ferguson’s The Aquarian Conspiracy in 1980, Michael Talbot’s The Holographic Universe (one of Strieber’s favorites) in 1991, and Graham Hancock’s Supernatural, in 2006? It seems as if, at regular intervals, a book comes along that tries to do more or less what The Super Natural is claiming to do, and turn the materialist paradigm upside down. The main difference here is that the focus is on the experiences of a single individual, Strieber, and by extension, those of thousands, or millions, who also believe they have been contacted by . . . something that can’t be explained by orthodox science.[2]
Kripal’s primary role is to provide the Strieber-material with the academic seal of approval. Yet the book, including Kripal’s contribution, is written in the sensationalist, whiz-bang, hyperbole-filled, how-can-we-top-ourselves-this-time style of all Strieber’s previous works. Although Kripal doesn’t openly express envy for Strieber’s “super natural” experiences, he practically oozes admiration for him, though whether he is sincere or not is hard to say. Much of the time he seems to be selling a product rather than exploring a mystery, and the book’s earnestness smacks, to me at least, of insincerity.
Full review here: https://auticulture.wordpress.com/201...
Kripal’s primary role is to provide the Strieber-material with the academic seal of approval. Yet the book, including Kripal’s contribution, is written in the sensationalist, whiz-bang, hyperbole-filled, how-can-we-top-ourselves-this-time style of all Strieber’s previous works. Although Kripal doesn’t openly express envy for Strieber’s “super natural” experiences, he practically oozes admiration for him, though whether he is sincere or not is hard to say. Much of the time he seems to be selling a product rather than exploring a mystery, and the book’s earnestness smacks, to me at least, of insincerity.
Full review here: https://auticulture.wordpress.com/201...
December 5, 2023
Read 15/18 chapters for my class Aliens, Psychics, and Ghosts. Like Strieber's other book, Communion, I would not have finished if I did not need to read for class. I will admit, some of it went over my head, but I felt like each chapter was just a repetition of the last, not bringing in any new material,
The over arching claim, to me, is the supernatural is a real phenomenon that we do not currently have the scientific paradigms to understand. In addition, paranormal events, like ghosts, aliens, and mediums, are interconnected and not separate. This really could have been an article,
The over arching claim, to me, is the supernatural is a real phenomenon that we do not currently have the scientific paradigms to understand. In addition, paranormal events, like ghosts, aliens, and mediums, are interconnected and not separate. This really could have been an article,
July 20, 2022
Radical stuff.
Kripal's attempt to meld rationalism and mysticism fascinates me.
Kripal's attempt to meld rationalism and mysticism fascinates me.
March 12, 2021
This book is hard for me to rate. I don’t know what to think about most of it and there were a lot of parts that I was completely lost on. However, I do agree with the last chapter and what I believe was the purpose of this book, scientists should be taking seriously and studying these strange phenomena, and the people who claim to have had these experiences.
October 6, 2016
I really liked the message of the book, which was that odd, weird, paranormal or supernatural things should not be considered that way, or automatically assumed to be bunk, but instead they should be looked at as genuine phenomena of some sort that we just don't understand. I especially liked how the authors were at pains to point out that many experiences may not be entirely physical in nature, but also may not be completely hallucinatory in nature either. I think this could be an interesting start to many conversations, and help people move past the dichotomy of "Aliens/Nessie/Sasquatch/Ghosts/Whatever are real and is exactly ___" vs "Aliens/Sasquatch/Ghosts/Whatever are not real and are instead hallucinations or hoaxes caused by ___." Of course, that is if people actually take the authors' advice and start refusing to try to explain what something is and just look at what people are reporting to compare the reported experiences instead of explain the reported experiences.
The formatting, where the authors switched back and forth, was an interesting way to make and illustrate points, especially since they had very different writing styles and were addressing topics from different angles.
There were some moments in Kripal's chapters that I know I was missing a little bit and not fully taking everything in, so I know I will benefit from re-reading the book down the line. The issue was not with his writing or explanations, just my unfamiliarity with some of the topics and comparative techniques he was using. I did like that his chapters had little sub-headings to help break things up. He was using techniques and frame-works that I am unfamiliar with but which he would use very regularly in his studies, and sometimes it can be hard for somebody to break down that sort of thing for the uninitiated. The sub-headings helped give his chapters a structure so that you could go step by step and see how things fit together.
Strieber's chapters were much more experience driven, although he was still making points about how he feels this should be discussed, and disclaiming the idea that he may have answers or things he believes are final answers as to what is happening. Of note, this was the first I have read from Strieber, either his fiction or his own experiences. I expect that anyone more well-versed in his work would find little here that is really unsurprising. As someone who is not versed at all in his prior work, I confess there were several moments when my first reaction was something along the lines of, "This guy must be complete nuts and/or full of bull crap." I do not like that I had that reaction; I certainly would not like to be dismissed like that if I experienced some strange phenomena. But I was very unprepared for some parts of his chapters.
Overall I really enjoyed the book. I found it very readable and entertaining. It also brought forth some good ideas and calls for more studies of strange phenomena, which I am all for. We may not be able to answer all of the questions about what is happening, but that should not cause us to dismiss the questions out of hand, as it so often done. I also plan to re-read the book in the future to help make sure I take everything in.
The formatting, where the authors switched back and forth, was an interesting way to make and illustrate points, especially since they had very different writing styles and were addressing topics from different angles.
There were some moments in Kripal's chapters that I know I was missing a little bit and not fully taking everything in, so I know I will benefit from re-reading the book down the line. The issue was not with his writing or explanations, just my unfamiliarity with some of the topics and comparative techniques he was using. I did like that his chapters had little sub-headings to help break things up. He was using techniques and frame-works that I am unfamiliar with but which he would use very regularly in his studies, and sometimes it can be hard for somebody to break down that sort of thing for the uninitiated. The sub-headings helped give his chapters a structure so that you could go step by step and see how things fit together.
Strieber's chapters were much more experience driven, although he was still making points about how he feels this should be discussed, and disclaiming the idea that he may have answers or things he believes are final answers as to what is happening. Of note, this was the first I have read from Strieber, either his fiction or his own experiences. I expect that anyone more well-versed in his work would find little here that is really unsurprising. As someone who is not versed at all in his prior work, I confess there were several moments when my first reaction was something along the lines of, "This guy must be complete nuts and/or full of bull crap." I do not like that I had that reaction; I certainly would not like to be dismissed like that if I experienced some strange phenomena. But I was very unprepared for some parts of his chapters.
Overall I really enjoyed the book. I found it very readable and entertaining. It also brought forth some good ideas and calls for more studies of strange phenomena, which I am all for. We may not be able to answer all of the questions about what is happening, but that should not cause us to dismiss the questions out of hand, as it so often done. I also plan to re-read the book in the future to help make sure I take everything in.
November 14, 2024
The mystery continues: What did Whitley Strieber encounter in his upstate New York cabin on the night after Christmas in 1985, and more to the point, what sort of can of worms did they open for him and for the rest of us who have been following him on his long, strange spiritual quest? The more of this saga I read, the more synchronicities I find cropping up between what I'm reading in the books and the happenings in my daily life. Try it and get back to me. Read "Communion" first and work your way up to this latest attempt to try to find ways of coming to grips with who or what Strieber's visitors are and what they mean for all of us and see if you don't find your life becoming haunted by a sense of something interacting with you, something, as it were, reading over your shoulder, or perhaps just reading you...
March 5, 2016
Anything written by Jeffrey Kripal is worth reading. Although he is the secondary author, his reasoning and openness to the human element of life are refreshing in an academic. I read Whitley Strieber's Communion in anticipation of this book. No matter what you think of his experiences, they can't fail to move the reader open to a world that may not be quite as simple as we're told. I highly recommend this title to help shift your worldview a little bit, and to sit back and ponder just how much we don't know. See more, if you wish, on my blog: Sects and Violence in the Ancient World.
July 29, 2017
unexpectedly excellent.
April 9, 2018
Amazing Book. Kripal is awesome.
Read
September 23, 2021Super Natural
The title, “Super Natural”, is deliberately distinguished from the word, “supernatural”, which refers to phenomena considered beyond “nature” and thereby dismissed as not eligible for further inquiry.
Phenomena explored in this book—such as UFO sightings and abduction experiences—are here treated as fully worth further investigation; a first step towards which must be to recognize several things: we don’t know their cause; these kinds of events have been occurring for thousands of years; and there are many people alive today who have been intensely affected.
One of the authors, Whitley Strieber, has been strongly impacted by events that are usually referred to as alien abduction, but he is scrupulously avoiding saying that he was abducted by extraterrestrials. This does not mean that he doubts the reality of his experience, or that of the hundreds of thousands of Americans who have experienced something similar in recent decades.
He discovered just how widespread these phenomena really are when he received hundreds of thousands of letters after he wrote honestly about his own experience in Communion. He paid a steep price for this honesty. The author of best sellers such as “The Day After”, which was made into a film with Dennis Quaid, was stunned when his readers turned against him to such an extent that he lost his home. And he was amazed to discover how many others have been traumatized and isolated--marginalized by government disinformation campaigns and by society’s fear of anything that challenges its established views of what is real.
The other author, Jeff Kripal, has researched and taught religious history for 30 years. His knowledge is crucial if these events, occurring now and for centuries, are ever to be understood.
I have not had such experiences myself, but I am struck by how deeply the authors go into features common to both modern UFO reports and the history of folklore and religion. Their analysis sheds light on the ambiguous middle ground between physical existence and distortions caused by trauma. In their closely reasoned dialogue, writing alternate chapters, they bring into the foreground an undeniable reality in our world: as long as society remains confined inside the bubble of its current world view, we will not be able to benefit from the opportunity to see our consciousness in a new light. There is no mystery about the consequences of remaining on our present course of denial: our cities will keep drowning and our forests will keep burning.
This book explores a radical possibility: that we are being offered a chance to communicate with a consciousness that has been present on our planet for thousands of years.
The title, “Super Natural”, is deliberately distinguished from the word, “supernatural”, which refers to phenomena considered beyond “nature” and thereby dismissed as not eligible for further inquiry.
Phenomena explored in this book—such as UFO sightings and abduction experiences—are here treated as fully worth further investigation; a first step towards which must be to recognize several things: we don’t know their cause; these kinds of events have been occurring for thousands of years; and there are many people alive today who have been intensely affected.
One of the authors, Whitley Strieber, has been strongly impacted by events that are usually referred to as alien abduction, but he is scrupulously avoiding saying that he was abducted by extraterrestrials. This does not mean that he doubts the reality of his experience, or that of the hundreds of thousands of Americans who have experienced something similar in recent decades.
He discovered just how widespread these phenomena really are when he received hundreds of thousands of letters after he wrote honestly about his own experience in Communion. He paid a steep price for this honesty. The author of best sellers such as “The Day After”, which was made into a film with Dennis Quaid, was stunned when his readers turned against him to such an extent that he lost his home. And he was amazed to discover how many others have been traumatized and isolated--marginalized by government disinformation campaigns and by society’s fear of anything that challenges its established views of what is real.
The other author, Jeff Kripal, has researched and taught religious history for 30 years. His knowledge is crucial if these events, occurring now and for centuries, are ever to be understood.
I have not had such experiences myself, but I am struck by how deeply the authors go into features common to both modern UFO reports and the history of folklore and religion. Their analysis sheds light on the ambiguous middle ground between physical existence and distortions caused by trauma. In their closely reasoned dialogue, writing alternate chapters, they bring into the foreground an undeniable reality in our world: as long as society remains confined inside the bubble of its current world view, we will not be able to benefit from the opportunity to see our consciousness in a new light. There is no mystery about the consequences of remaining on our present course of denial: our cities will keep drowning and our forests will keep burning.
This book explores a radical possibility: that we are being offered a chance to communicate with a consciousness that has been present on our planet for thousands of years.
September 27, 2017
I've been reading Whitley Strieber's non-fiction books since I was 9 years old, when I first saw the haunting "Communion" book cover. In recent months, I've been delighted to find that I am not alone among thirtysomethings who first came into these books at an early age. I can safely say, for longtime fans of "Communion", "Transformation", "Breakthrough", "The Secret School", and "Confirmation" that you'll find both a continuation of the anecdotes first introduced in those works as well as new experiences covering up to 2016 in "The Super Natural".
"The Super Natural' is a book for those who wish to acknowledge the presence of (and explore) highly strange phenomena in our reality, but who have no idea what it could be. They won't jump to conclusions the way that ardent skeptics and true believers alike have done. They want no association with New Age rhetoric or tinfoil hat conspiracy. They refuse to embrace the blanket dismissals of scientism. This is a book for smart, science-literate people who wish to expand the scope of human understanding, starting with what we know to true, and going from there.
To this end, Kripal and Strieber provide a set of tools for anyone who has witnessed or experienced incidents of high strangeness to lead their own inquiry. These nine approaches may seem overly-academic at times, involving a lot of comparative research of the type that you generally see in a university humanities class.
What makes the toolkit unique, however, is where they suggest we apply it: UFOs, alien abductions, ghosts, lapses in reality, time shifting, and other experiences that are currently sneered at or ignored by academia. This is the type of inquiry that our brightest minds should be exploring, but currently do not. Furthermore, the tools of inquiry themselves are very simple to use: anyone who has a library card can start their own formal study of the strangeness they or people they know have been experiencing in their lives.
The alternating conversational structure of the book is different from what longtime fans are used to, with Strieber writing one chapter, recounting (as only Strieber can) an experience of his, and Dr. Kripal writing the subsequent one, providing a context for understanding it using one of the tools of inquiry that he introduces throughout the book. In that regard, it's simply one of the most effective uses of the "show, don't tell" technique, used as a teaching tool in this context.
On a personal note, this book has resulted in a very practical change for my own ghostwriting services, providing me with a framework that will allow me to empower authors who want to write about similar experiences from a standpoint of inquiry, rather than certainty. I'm sure other readers of "The Super Natural" will find their own ways to explore high strangeness as well.
If you're looking for answers to what these paranormal things are, you won't find them here. Strieber and Kripal have been very careful to "make the cut", focusing more on the experiences and the "what" of the supernatural phenomena themselves, not the "how" or the "why".
This book provides something better than answers: it gives you the ability to ask better questions. For that reason alone, it's worth the read.
"The Super Natural' is a book for those who wish to acknowledge the presence of (and explore) highly strange phenomena in our reality, but who have no idea what it could be. They won't jump to conclusions the way that ardent skeptics and true believers alike have done. They want no association with New Age rhetoric or tinfoil hat conspiracy. They refuse to embrace the blanket dismissals of scientism. This is a book for smart, science-literate people who wish to expand the scope of human understanding, starting with what we know to true, and going from there.
To this end, Kripal and Strieber provide a set of tools for anyone who has witnessed or experienced incidents of high strangeness to lead their own inquiry. These nine approaches may seem overly-academic at times, involving a lot of comparative research of the type that you generally see in a university humanities class.
What makes the toolkit unique, however, is where they suggest we apply it: UFOs, alien abductions, ghosts, lapses in reality, time shifting, and other experiences that are currently sneered at or ignored by academia. This is the type of inquiry that our brightest minds should be exploring, but currently do not. Furthermore, the tools of inquiry themselves are very simple to use: anyone who has a library card can start their own formal study of the strangeness they or people they know have been experiencing in their lives.
The alternating conversational structure of the book is different from what longtime fans are used to, with Strieber writing one chapter, recounting (as only Strieber can) an experience of his, and Dr. Kripal writing the subsequent one, providing a context for understanding it using one of the tools of inquiry that he introduces throughout the book. In that regard, it's simply one of the most effective uses of the "show, don't tell" technique, used as a teaching tool in this context.
On a personal note, this book has resulted in a very practical change for my own ghostwriting services, providing me with a framework that will allow me to empower authors who want to write about similar experiences from a standpoint of inquiry, rather than certainty. I'm sure other readers of "The Super Natural" will find their own ways to explore high strangeness as well.
If you're looking for answers to what these paranormal things are, you won't find them here. Strieber and Kripal have been very careful to "make the cut", focusing more on the experiences and the "what" of the supernatural phenomena themselves, not the "how" or the "why".
This book provides something better than answers: it gives you the ability to ask better questions. For that reason alone, it's worth the read.
March 13, 2018
Reading The Super Natural was an incredibly strange experience, and one that I am still not entirely certain what to make of. In this book Jeff Kripal and Whitley Strieber seek to better explain the phenomenon of close encounters with the Other - whether that Other is alien, extraterrestrial, psychological, or something super natural has yet to be fully decided... and ultimately it is a mystery we shall just have to live with until our vocabularies can better encompass all it is that we experience..
The book is a fascinating one, and one very difficult to fully comprehend. The language is dense by its very nature, and the subject one esoteric. I'm not entirely certain where I sit on the phenomenon that Strieber has experienced throughout his life, although ultimately what one makes of Strieber doesn't really matter. The phenomena is experienced by enough people, and over a long enough period of time, to deem itself worthy of better consideration and study. The study being primarily focused in the humanities rather than the scientific is a bold move that I believe is correct. The bulk of what this book rests upon I, personally believe, is correct. This is a modern mythology, and has its analogues throughout all mythologies. Much like Bigfoot, this is worthy of anthropological study at the very least and a more open minded consideration. We do it a disservice when we say it is either a) purely fraudulent, or b) purely scientific.
I'd like to see this book read by more people, and I'd honestly like to see more books take this approach towards the paranormal. I definitely hope to read more on this topic being treated in such a manner, and am now rather intrigued by the rest of the Communion series. Like the early contactee books I read, there's something eerily gnostic between the lines.
The book is a fascinating one, and one very difficult to fully comprehend. The language is dense by its very nature, and the subject one esoteric. I'm not entirely certain where I sit on the phenomenon that Strieber has experienced throughout his life, although ultimately what one makes of Strieber doesn't really matter. The phenomena is experienced by enough people, and over a long enough period of time, to deem itself worthy of better consideration and study. The study being primarily focused in the humanities rather than the scientific is a bold move that I believe is correct. The bulk of what this book rests upon I, personally believe, is correct. This is a modern mythology, and has its analogues throughout all mythologies. Much like Bigfoot, this is worthy of anthropological study at the very least and a more open minded consideration. We do it a disservice when we say it is either a) purely fraudulent, or b) purely scientific.
I'd like to see this book read by more people, and I'd honestly like to see more books take this approach towards the paranormal. I definitely hope to read more on this topic being treated in such a manner, and am now rather intrigued by the rest of the Communion series. Like the early contactee books I read, there's something eerily gnostic between the lines.
November 28, 2017
This non-fiction work picks up where seekers like philosopher/psychologist William James left off: it is a quest to examine phenomena for which thus far, we do not have an explanation.
While focused primarily on the abduction phenomenon (of which Strieber has been writing for decades), it also provides commentary on the unknown in general, through the lenses of religion, physics and contemporary psychology. Dr. Jeffrey Kripal provides much of the academic context, while Whitley shares an overview of his own experiences along with musings on how his impressions of the phenom have changed over the years. This back-and-forth dialogue between the two authors successfully weaves together Kripal's brilliant, but occasionally obtuse musings with Whitley's clarity of conviction. The book strikes an excellent balance of intellectual thought and speculation, and I applaud the authors' efforts to venture into territory where others who have dared have been vilified or written off as irrational.
I tend to believe such phenomena as described in this work may be a result of not yet fully understood projections of our own consciousnesses--truly "extended mind"--but I have always kept my mind open, and have been intrigued with Strieber's narrative since the early 90s. Despite his naysayers, he has always questioned the nature of his experiences, and bringing someone as credentialed as Kripal along for analysis contributes to his validity, in my opinion. I hope to see more collaboration from these authors, as this was a compelling book, and quite emotionally affecting at times.
While focused primarily on the abduction phenomenon (of which Strieber has been writing for decades), it also provides commentary on the unknown in general, through the lenses of religion, physics and contemporary psychology. Dr. Jeffrey Kripal provides much of the academic context, while Whitley shares an overview of his own experiences along with musings on how his impressions of the phenom have changed over the years. This back-and-forth dialogue between the two authors successfully weaves together Kripal's brilliant, but occasionally obtuse musings with Whitley's clarity of conviction. The book strikes an excellent balance of intellectual thought and speculation, and I applaud the authors' efforts to venture into territory where others who have dared have been vilified or written off as irrational.
I tend to believe such phenomena as described in this work may be a result of not yet fully understood projections of our own consciousnesses--truly "extended mind"--but I have always kept my mind open, and have been intrigued with Strieber's narrative since the early 90s. Despite his naysayers, he has always questioned the nature of his experiences, and bringing someone as credentialed as Kripal along for analysis contributes to his validity, in my opinion. I hope to see more collaboration from these authors, as this was a compelling book, and quite emotionally affecting at times.
March 24, 2023
😑. Very difficult to review this book because there are so many facets upon which to focus. Therefore let me offer 3 stars (very rambling and disjunct), and 4 points to help you decide;
1 this book is NOT about aliens; period. If you go into it with that preconceived notion you are likely to miss the very most important theses.
2 this book is a courageous effort on both men’s parts. They both have academic, professional, and personal interests/relationships which will suffer from offering us the opportunity, through cogent argument, to at least consider alternatives to our current ideas regarding many dogmas.
3 If life does not end with the body, it would seem of paramount importance to attend most carefully…… (I’ll let you discover the rest). Streiber
4 If u are worshipping a god…any god…including “God” u are basically worshipping Zeus. That is to say your religion….will pass, will be no more. Will become a thing of memory…it is only a matter of time. Kripal (deal with it).
If you can deal with that…..you can deal with this book. If not: not.
1 this book is NOT about aliens; period. If you go into it with that preconceived notion you are likely to miss the very most important theses.
2 this book is a courageous effort on both men’s parts. They both have academic, professional, and personal interests/relationships which will suffer from offering us the opportunity, through cogent argument, to at least consider alternatives to our current ideas regarding many dogmas.
3 If life does not end with the body, it would seem of paramount importance to attend most carefully…… (I’ll let you discover the rest). Streiber
4 If u are worshipping a god…any god…including “God” u are basically worshipping Zeus. That is to say your religion….will pass, will be no more. Will become a thing of memory…it is only a matter of time. Kripal (deal with it).
If you can deal with that…..you can deal with this book. If not: not.
May 1, 2024
This is easily the weirdest book I’ve ever read. Not weird in a bad way. Weird in an interesting way. This book was based primarily on speculative assumptions and leaps in logic, but acted as a good practice for engaging with beliefs that are not my own, but still taking them seriously because they are important to those who hold them. In religious studies, it’s easy to do that with many “mainstream” religions, but this acts as a good reminder and practice to keep that mindset with things we may already have initially strong feelings about. Likewise, this book helped me understand how people we may consider “conspiracy theorists” act. Perhaps it is just their way to make meaning and make myth in the world and engaging with those beliefs in a way that doesn’t merely laugh at them may be worthwhile. That being said, it seems like there were some methodological flaws and I did not appreciate how easily they brushed aside materialism. But I did enjoy reading this book.
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November 15, 2020I am an agnostic and a Darwinian. I practice yoga, and tai chi and I meditate everyday. I read science books frequently because I am fascinated by the concepts of time and space. I don't believe in religion or the paranormal. No one yet, that I know of, has provided evidence that the supernatural has credibility. I read through this text quickly and for the main part was annoyed by the substance matter. Most of it is unsubstantiated reports or hearsay. To me, the supernatural and religion, are frightening human concepts designed to enslave people and enable religious elders to wield autocratic power. Such an accusation can be easily verified via research on google. Strieber and Kripal don't seem to be aware of these concerns which is a worry.
March 17, 2024
Important ideas, I guess, but the material fails their ambitions partly because it's focused solely on Strieber's experiences and also because Kripal is arrogant overdetermining its importance. He needs to stop bragging about how *many* books he's published, too. I'm also disappointed that he turns a blind eye to the fact that Strieber was already a fantasist when he published Communion. Someone needs to address this. Overall I think the thesis here would have benefited from a much broader dip into the many and various experiences that people have -- jeeze he could have at least dipped into the Communion letters. Jacques Vallee's Dimensions is a much broader, wiser treatment, even if suffers for its outright dismissal of the ETH.
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