Passport to the Cosmos
Declara de entrada un desplazamiento del objeto: «I wish to stress at the outset that I am not in this book seeking to establish the material reality of the alien abduction phenomenon» «Mack — Passport to the Cosmos (1999; conmemorativa de 2011) · p. 24», y sitúa el interés en el significado de lo relatado para quienes lo relatan «Mack — Passport to the Cosmos (1999; conmemorativa de 2011) · p. 24». Al cerrar lo dice todavía más fuerte: esas ya «are not the most significant questions posed by the alien abduction phenomenon» «Mack — Passport to the Cosmos (1999; conmemorativa de 2011) · p. 292».
Toma de Patrick Harpur la categoría con que organiza su capítulo epistemológico —«daimonic reality»— y la delimita en nota al pie frente a «demonic» «Mack — Passport to the Cosmos (1999; conmemorativa de 2011) · pp. 32, 35». Es el único autor del que toma una categoría y no un dato, y también declara dónde no lo sigue «Mack — Passport to the Cosmos (1999; conmemorativa de 2011) · p. 52».
El trabajo comparado deja de ser bibliográfico y pasa a ser etnográfico: los portadores de tradición aparecen nombrados, vivos y tratados como autoridades —Bernardo Peixoto «Mack — Passport to the Cosmos (1999; conmemorativa de 2011) · p. 33», Malidoma Somé «Mack — Passport to the Cosmos (1999; conmemorativa de 2011) · p. 33», Vusumazulu Credo Mutwa «Mack — Passport to the Cosmos (1999; conmemorativa de 2011) · p. 211»—, y la obra consigna que no coinciden entre sí «Mack — Passport to the Cosmos (1999; conmemorativa de 2011) · p. 212». El capítulo 7 desarrolla la homología con el viaje chamánico que en 1994 quedaba enunciada como pendiente «Mack — Passport to the Cosmos (1999; conmemorativa de 2011) · p. 162».
3258 afirmaciones · 1 fuente · 1 atribución
Atribución
se consigna, jamás se afirma«Mack — Passport to the Cosmos (1999; conmemorativa de 2011) · pp. 6, 25»
Cadena de la obra
el testimonio procesado, en esmeraldaAfirmaciones
3258 entradas — la voz de la obra, con su pasaje«I wish to stress at the outset that I am not in this book seeking to establish the material reality of the alien abduction phenomenon» — la declaración de propósito del prefacio, firmado «John E. Mack, M.D. Boulder, Colorado».
«Rather, I am more concerned with the meaning of these experiences for the so-called abductees and for humankind more generally» — Adónde desplaza el interés.
«this book is not simply about abductions but has to do with what such anomalous experiences and related phenomena can tell us about ourselves and our evolving knowledge of the nature of reality» — declara el alcance del libro.
«During the nearly ten years that I have studied the alien abduction phenomenon» — data el lapso de su propio trabajo.
«an attitude of not knowing, including not knowing about how we know about anything» — lo que pide al lector, junto con suspender la lógica del tipo: si los alienígenas son X, ¿por qué no hacen Y? — el esquema es formulación nuestra, no cita.
«we have always relied heavily on empathy and intuition, on the use of ourselves as the instruments of knowing» — reivindica la ventaja del clínico.
«I was raised in a secular American family of German Jewish heritage» — abre la autobiografía intelectual del capítulo 1, material nuevo respecto de 1994.
«I looked upon, with Freud (another secular Jewish rationalist), as animism, primitivism, and illusion» — así consigna haber mirado las experiencias de los pueblos nativos con los espíritus y las creencias de los fieles: es el punto de partida que declara abandonar.
«I was then faced with the choice of either trying to fit these individuals' reports into a framework that fit my worldview» — plantea la disyuntiva.
«or of modifying my worldview to include the possibility that entities, beings, energies—something—could be reaching my clients from another realm» — la otra rama de la disyuntiva.
«It seemed to me to be more logical, and intellectually more honest, to modify my cosmology than to continue trying to force my clients into molds that clearly did not suit them» — La decisión, dicha en verbo de decir.
«that I would not have gotten into trouble if I had not suggested in the book that my findings might require a change in our view of reality rather than saying that I had found a new psychiatric syn drome whose cause had not yet been established» — consigna en nota al pie lo que le dijeron, sin nombrar el órgano institucional en el cuerpo firmado por él.
«the Program for Extraordinary Experience Research (PEER) in affiliation with the Cambridge Hospital Department of Psychiatry convened a multidisciplinary group» — consigna el resultado institucional; la primera reunión del grupo fue en Harvard el 10 y 11 de abril de 1999, con astrofísica, física óptica, historia de la ciencia, antropología, filosofía, teología y neurofisiología representadas.
«the realms of spirit, unseen agency, "daimonic reality" in the words of English writer Patrick Harpur (1994, p. 37)» — así nombra lo que la visión occidental separa del mundo material.
«The word "daimonic" as used by Harpur is not to be confused with "demonic."» — nota al pie de deslinde, para que el término no se confunda.
«Harpur uses this word simply to refer to unseen realities or forces that may, nevertheless, manifest in the physical world» — cierre del mismo deslinde.
«it appears that we are dealing with a class of phenomena, Patrick Harpur's "daimonic realities" (Harpur 1994), that by their very nature elude efforts to prove or pin them down» — se apropia de la categoría para su objeto.
«as ambiguous as the phenomena themselves, just enough to convince those people who want to believe in their literal reality—just too little to win over the unbeliever» — cita a Harpur sobre la evidencia física (Harpur 1994, p. 148).
«Although I share Harpur's doubt that we will ever fully bridge the gap between the visible and the invisible worlds, I think not» — coexistencia con desacuerdo declarado: comparte la duda y no abandona la búsqueda de evidencia física, y da tres razones.
«I never said it was possible. I said it was true» — la anécdota de Sir William Crookes ante D. D. Home, citada vía Harpur (1994, p. 64).
«What I have been finding has been, according to my own background, not "possible."» — se la aplica a sí mismo; la frase cierra en la página siguiente.
«of my clinical experience and judgment, it does indeed appear in some way to be true» — cierre de la frase anterior, ya en la página siguiente.
«apparitions of the Virgin Mary, and spontaneous shamanic experiences, which might be described as crossover phenomena» — define la categoría e incluye en ella mutilaciones de ganado y agroglifos.
«the bizarre reports of rocks we now call meteorites falling from the sky seemed in the eighteenth century» — la analogía del meteorito para el estatuto de anomalía, citando Westrum 1978.
«It is as if the agent or intelligence at work here were parodying, mocking, tricking, and deceiving the investigators, providing just enough physical evidence to win over those who are prepared to believe in the phenomenon but not enough to convince the skeptic» — sobre la elusividad de la prueba.
«It is as if the phenomenon were inviting us to change our ways, to expand our consciousness and ways of learning» — Lo lee como invitación.
«Is it that the phenomenon itself is redolent of a kind of tricksterism that mocks our technology and the literalness of minds, which require material proof before they believe anything really exists» — la hipótesis del *trickster*, planteada como pregunta y apoyada en Jung 1959, Nisker 1990 y Radin 1956.
«a combination of meticulous empirical observation together with carefully recorded narratives of firsthand experiences» — el método declarado.
«An attitude of not knowing, a kind of Buddhist-like "empty mind," is essential» — La actitud que lo acompaña.
«Eastern psychology uses the idea of "neutral mind," neither purely objective nor subjective» — consigna la nota de la psicología oriental y propone conducir el trabajo así.
«Perhaps it is with our neutral minds that the work with abductees should be conducted» — cierre de esa misma nota.
«No alien pregnancy has ever, to my knowledge, been convincingly documented by physical examination or pregnancy testing» — balance de la evidencia física, en negativo, dicho por el propio autor.
«A non-Western observer could argue here that it is not the physical but the astral, ethereal, or subtle body that has traveled, but this would hardly satisfy the desire for proof» — consigna la objeción no occidental y su límite.
«there has been little consideration of why this might be so or what deeper significance could underlie this observation» — sobre los seres que se presentan como animales; abre el capítulo 7, «Shamans, Symbols, And Archetypes», que en 1994 no existía.
«abduction experiences lead many abductees into a rich and meaningful world of symbols and archetypes that take them far beyond the level of everyday psychological or material reality» — la tesis del capítulo.
«This world or language is familiar to indigenous peoples, especially to shamans, native healers, or spiritual leaders» — A quiénes atribuye la familiaridad con ese lenguaje.
«Like shamans in their preparatory training or practicing their art, they are brought by the experiences into nonordinary states of consciousness in which space and time lose their defining power» — la homología con el viaje chamánico, dicha en condicional comparativo.
«the altered consciousness and traumatic ordeals that experiencers undergo seem in some ways like the harsh and ecstatic elements of the shamanic journey and its encounters with animal spirits» — El verbo es *seem*.
«Nona has compared her experiences specifically to a shamanic initiation» — consigna que la comparación la hizo ella, no el autor.
«the initiation brings you to the edge to meet death» — en boca de Nona, experienciante; Mack la recoge, no la establece.
«Nona has learned since then that the ankh is an important Egyptian symbol of eternal life» — el dato de contexto lo pone el autor; el ser «egipcio» que sostiene el ankh es de la visión de ella.
«which she likened to a kind of "dark night of the soul,"» — la fórmula es de Sue, experienciante, que también describe haber pasado por un «rite of passage».
«each civilization has its own symbols, whatever is in the human consciousness at the time» — una explicación entera del fenómeno, en boca de Sue: hoy no pueden ser dioses, así que son extraterrestres.
«These may be archetypes, modern-day archetypes» — cierre de la explicación de Sue. Los «arquetipos de hoy» son de ella, no del autor.
«Sue was not aware at the time of the symbolism of divinity in Christianity and Freemasonry represented by an eye in a triangle pointing up» — la visión del ojo en el triángulo es de ella; la adjudicación del simbolismo masónico es del autor.
«whether there was a relationship between the gray alien beings (in his tribe they are called ikuyas) that abduction experiencers may initially encounter in animal form» — así plantea la pregunta a Bernardo Peixoto, chamán, antropólogo y etnobotánico.
«It is just exactly the same, John, there's no doubt about it» — la respuesta de Peixoto: la identificación entre los grises y los animales de poder es suya, no del autor.
«they could see light and force around the owl, which told them it was a humanoid in disguise» — el criterio de discernimiento de los ancianos, referido por Peixoto.
«Spiders are associated with complex symbolism, rep resenting variously the hub of the web of all creation, the sun and its rays, the Great Mother or moon goddess, the spinners of destiny, and the forces of birth and death» — aquí el aparato simbólico lo pone el autor; la partición «rep resenting» es del reflujo del facsímil.
«an archetype for all that is love and all things that are life» — así describe Karin, experienciante, su corazón extraído en visión.
«our legends say that a long time ago a flying saucer landed in the Amazon basin» — en boca de Bernardo Peixoto.
«These beings were makuras, or spirits that "came from high up in the sky."» — el término émico, referido por Peixoto.
«he replied succinctly that among his people "this makes no difference."» — preguntado si la leyenda es literal o metafórica; la respuesta de Peixoto desarma la pregunta occidental.
«In Western reality, there is a clear split between the spiritual and the material» — Malidoma Somé, chamán dagara de Burkina Faso, citado por el autor (Somé 1995, p. 8).
«To a Dagara man or woman, the material is just the spiritual taking on form» — cierre de la misma cita de Somé.
«I have found it difficult to interpret such communications» — el autor consigna el límite de traducción que no puede resolver.
«They'll put you in one of those little flying saucers, and they'll zoom you up there in no time» — Wallace Black Elk, anciano lakota, citado vía Black Elk y Lyon 1991.
«several years before I was studying these things. Lyon seems to have had no particular interest in UFOs» — control metodológico que el autor se pone a sí mismo: el pasaje de Black Elk lo registró el antropólogo William Lyon en los años ochenta.
«because they are not trained; they lost contact with the wisdom, knowledge, power, and gift» — Black Elk sobre los científicos que llaman «ovni» a lo que él conoce de otro modo.
«But the biggest joke is on those scientists, because they lost contact with those star-nation people» — cierre de la misma cita de Black Elk (Black Elk y Lyon 1991, p. 91).
«Vusumazulu Credo Mutwa is perhaps the best-known African sangoma or medicine man outside of his native South Africa» — presentación del capítulo 10.
«Like Bernardo Peixoto and Sequoyah Trueblood, he is a bridging figure» — la categoría con que el autor los agrupa.
«a name given to him during his initiation as a sangoma, means "awakener of the Zulus,"» — etimología de Vusumazulu, consignada por el autor.
«Mutwa means "little bushman," and Credo ("I believe") was the name given to him by his Christian father» — las otras dos etimologías; renunció al cristianismo para llegar a ser sanusi.
«I was suddenly in a place made of iron. It was sort of round, like a tank, a water tank lying on its side» — epígrafe del capítulo, con la experiencia de Credo Mutwa fechada el 24 de noviembre de 1994.
«Credo's view of the mantindane (the Zulu word for the creatures that resemble closely what are called "gray aliens" in the West)» — consigna el término émico zulú.
«is quite different from that of Peixoto or Trueblood. To him they are parasitic, instill superstition, sow discord, and may even cause disease» — el autor consigna el desacuerdo entre sus propios informantes indígenas, y no lo resuelve.
«are not aliens at all, sir, but they are part of this Earth. They belong here» — en boca de Credo Mutwa, sangoma zulú: una explicación del fenómeno que contradice la hipótesis extraterrestre.
«We and the mantindane are one and the same stupid race. Far from these creatures being aliens, they are our future descendants. I am sure of this» — cierre de la misma intervención de Mutwa.
«because the people from the stars are trying to give us knowledge, but we are too stupid» — Mutwa, unos minutos después del primer encuentro.
«The human race must accept that it is not alone on the planet; otherwise it will perish» — Mutwa.
«associations here in South Africa which say they are dedicated to looking into this thing, but they don't talk to us black people» — reclamo de Mutwa sobre el racismo del propio campo ufológico; sigue «It is as if we don't exist».
«about sixty children at the Ariel School, a private elementary school in Ruwa, near Harare, the capital of Zimbabwe, saw several UFOs» — el incidente del 16 de septiembre de 1994, que fue el objeto principal del viaje.
«after nearly ten years of work with abductees, I have come to the view that these are not the most significant questions posed by the alien abduction phenomenon» — la punta de 1999: se refiere a si el fenómeno es materialmente real y si a la gente se la llevan corporalmente.
«increasingly convinced that the subtle and elusive nature of the abduction phenomenon is such that its secrets will be denied to those using a purely empirical approach» — la frase arranca al pie de la página anterior.
«There seem to be as many names for these domains as there are methods of approaching them» — Enumera «implicate order», «invisible world», «other dimensions», «transpersonal» y «daimonic reality». Es una tesis de nominación.
«of reality that is neither purely internal nor external» — la «third zone» que adjudica a los filósofos Michael Zimmerman y Michael Grosso.
«appears to be filled with beings, creatures, spirits, intelligences, gods—the names vary according to the apparent worldview of the observer» — los nombres varían con la cosmovisión del que mira: tesis de nominación, no de ontología.
«The idea that we live in a multidimensional universe populated by beings or life-forms that are less densely embodied than we are» — Consigna que la idea no es nueva ni para las tradiciones orientales ni para la mayoría de los pueblos indígenas.
«he was perhaps identifying an aspect of a larger reigning principle in nature» — sobre Freud y el retorno de lo reprimido, leído como principio más amplio.
«the unseen or sacred domains of reality denied by his and our culture» — lo que, en esa lectura, sería hoy lo que retorna.
«the virtual atrophy of the capacity to perceive or experience the exquisite and awesome beauty» — diagnóstico de la modernidad.
«I think that this is what is meant by the loss of a sense of the sacred» — El nombre que le da.
«the abduction story appears to be especially well suited for breaking down these walls by virtue of its democratic ubiquity» — por qué este fenómeno y no otro; añade la intensidad energética y la capacidad de «hablar nuestro idioma» con sus elementos aeroespaciales y biotecnológicos.
«They become aware of the great arche types of the collective unconscious, of birth, death, and rebirth» — primero de los cuatro momentos de la transformación; la partición «arche types» es del reflujo del facsímil.
«comparable only to the states of ecstasy or samadhi of advanced meditators or yogis» — el hallazgo neurofisiológico de Norman Don y Gilda Moura sobre experienciantes brasileños (Don y Moura 1997), consignado por el autor.
«has been important in convincing me of the truth and significance of their stories, whatever their ontological status may be» — su criterio de convicción, con la salvedad ontológica incluida en la misma frase.
«their deepening connection with Source or Home brings with it for them a feeling that they do not belong here» — consigna el precio de la transformación.
«the great ego death, that is marking the end of the materialist business-as-usual paradigm» — usa el término budista japonés *daishigyo* para el proceso cultural.
«the wisdom traditions of our early history» — la prescripción de retorno para las culturas occidentales, apoyada en Metzner 1994 y 1997 y en Smith 1992.
«New knowledge, new mastery, another way, cannot, as Plato taught, happen unless we recollect what we knew at birth but forgot» — invoca la reminiscencia platónica.
«We no longer expect an Old Testament God/bully» — cierra con una teología declarada; tampoco espera un mesías salvador.
«The creative principle is within us, not without» — el remate de esa teología.
«the alien abduction phenomenon is largely an opportunity or a gift, a kind of catalyst for the evolution of consciousness» — el enmarque final de la obra.
«for some native leaders like Sequoyah, the Creator has already been considered first in every moment» — concede autoridad epistémica a los portadores de tradición nombrados.
«We mustn't get too technologed» — en boca de Emma, once años; el «[sic]» que la acompaña es de la propia obra.
«Whitley Strieber had been on a path of transformation through the Gurdjieff Foundation before he became aware of his encounters» — única aparición de Gurdjieff en la obra, y es sobre Strieber, no sobre el autor.
«This sense of oneness of body and spirit led Eva to the writings in the esoteric Jewish Kabbala that have to do with the spiritualization of matter» — el único hilo cabalístico de la obra, y es el de una experienciante.
«Eva has been studying the sacred mystical texts of the Kabbala and practicing Kabbalistic healing» — continúa el mismo hilo, siempre adjudicado a ella.
«integrate into human society and assume control» — la conclusión de David Jacobs (1998) sobre híbridos y alienígenas, citada por el autor y no suscrita: su lectura de la finalidad del fenómeno es la opuesta.
«This worldview would require that for something to be real, its behavior must be consistent with the laws of nature we already know, and it should yield its secrets to a way of knowing that relies primarily on the five senses, rational analysis, and a virtually complete separation of subject and object, of the explorer and what is being explored» — así define el autor la cosmovisión que su material lo obliga a poner en duda; la frase arranca al pie de la plana anterior con la admisión de que esa visión pudo ser incompleta y defectuosa.
«My own approach has been largely that of a clinician, allowing the abduction experiencers to tell their stories without initial judgments or interpretations, knowing there is always time to assess the messenger and the message later» — declara el procedimiento y su orden: primero el relato, después la evaluación del mensajero y del mensaje.
«We are accustomed to uncertainty and to immersing ourselves in the varieties and mysteries of human experience» — la ventaja que el autor reclama para el clínico, dicha como hábito de oficio y no como método probado.
«The alien abduction phenomenon can be defined as the experience of being taken by humanoid beings, usually but not always against the person’s will, into some sort of enclosure where a variety of procedures and communications occur» — la definición operativa con que el autor abre el capítulo 1, con el matiz de que la toma no siempre es contra la voluntad.
«These individuals are called “abductees,” “experiencers” or “anomalous experiencers”—finding appropriate language, as we shall see, has become an increasingly difficult problem» — consigna que el nombre mismo de las personas es materia disputada dentro del libro, no un detalle de estilo.
«the experiences of Carlos Diaz, Jean, Sequoyah and Gary, for example, are not typical, and I do not have evidence that Bernardo or the children at the Ariel School were actually abducted by the beings they saw, although their encounters affected them» — declara de entrada que ensancha el corpus con casos atípicos, y en la misma frase retira la afirmación de que Peixoto o los niños del Ariel School hayan sido raptados.
«I have tried to be scrupulous in my observations and analysis, but I recognize that in the end what I have done will always to some degree remain idiosyncratic; that is, it is the product of the interplay of my own psyche or consciousness with the experiences of others» — el límite que se pone a sí mismo: el resultado es el producto del cruce entre su propia consciencia y la experiencia ajena, y por eso lo llama idiosincrático.
«But no consistent psychiatric disturbance has been found that could account for these reports, nor has a major psychological study of this population demonstrated more psychopathology than a matched comparison group» — el balance en negativo sobre la vía psicopatológica, apoyado en McLeod y otros, entonces en prensa.
«This concept is alien to the Dagara. For us, as for many indigenous cultures, the supernatural is part of our everyday lives» — sigue la cita de Malidoma Somé (Somé 1995, p. 8); el informe de minería adjudicó esta frase al autor y es de Somé.
«Sequoyah Trueblood (see Chapter 9), for example, says that for him whether the physical body is taken during an abduction is not important, for “we are spirit.”» — en boca de Sequoyah Trueblood, anciano choctaw: la pregunta occidental por el rapto corporal le resulta secundaria.
«Native people, he adds, live in a world of “spirit and meaning,” while whites live in a world of “science and facts”» — la oposición es de Trueblood, no del autor, que la recoge y no la arbitra.
«He said there were even cave drawings, made hundreds if not thousands of years ago, that showed some kind of craft» — Bernardo Peixoto sobre los grabados rupestres que su pueblo asocia a la leyenda amazónica de la nave.
«Among native peoples, at least those who have maintained a connection with the traditional ways, direct communication with the Creator may be part of everyday life, and UFOs, or something like them, seem to play a part in this contact» — generalización del autor sobre sus informantes indígenas, con el verbo en *seem* y la salvedad de que habla de quienes conservan la tradición.
«Wallace Black Elk, an esteemed Lakota elder and shaman, has said, “We don’t need a piece of paper” to contact the spirits. “. . .We send a voice to the Creator—‘Yo-ho’—and somebody responds and comes in.”» — Wallace Black Elk, anciano lakota, sobre la voz con que se llama al Creador. Es de él, citado por el autor.
«If one is to communicate effectively about something so controversial and complex as the alien abduction phenomenon, then it is important to be as clear and specific as possible about one’s own worldview and how it may have changed» — la razón por la que dedica el capítulo 1 a su propia cosmovisión: sin declararla, el lector no sabe con qué estatuto de realidad lee lo descrito.
«In the world in which I was raised and schooled, the idea of life, beings, energy—really anything at all—emanating from an unseen reality and manifesting materially was just not possible» — enuncia el axioma con que fue formado.
«Yet something precisely like this seems to be what is occurring in the case of the alien abduction phenomenon» — y lo que su material le opone, dicho con *seem* y no como constatación.
«It will be apparent by now that my purpose in this book is not to establish that alien abductions are real purely in a literal, physical sense, although there may be physical manifestations» — repite el deslinde del prefacio y le añade la concesión: que no busque probarlo no significa que niegue las manifestaciones físicas.
«I will document experiencers’ reports with physical evidence where applicable, but my principal interest is in the experiences themselves, their pattern, meaning, and potential implications for our understanding of reality and our knowledge of ourselves in the universe» — el orden de prioridades declarado: la evidencia física acompaña, el patrón y el significado mandan.
«But marshaling the sorts of evidence that might conceivably satisfy the requirements of the physical sciences on their “own turf” has proved to be a formidable and elusive task» — reconoce el fracaso de la vía probatoria en el terreno de las ciencias físicas, y lo dice como resultado de su propio intento.
«I have come to regard the alien abduction phenomenon as one among a number of occurrences currently confronting human consciousness, like near-death and out-of-body experiences» — encuadra el fenómeno en una serie con las experiencias cercanas a la muerte y las extracorporales, no como caso único.
«One of the recommendations of this committee was that I involve more colleagues in the work» — nota al pie: lo que el comité de la institución le recomendó, y de donde sale el grupo multidisciplinario. La consecuencia institucional se consigna, no la reprimenda.
«The first meeting of this group took place at Harvard University on April 10 and 11, 1999» — la fecha y la sede del grupo multidisciplinario, dato de la edición posterior a *Abduction*.
«These phenomena seem to violate that barrier, so sacred to the rationalist mind, between the forces of the unseen world and the material realm, giving us “glimpses,” in researcher Linda Howe’s words, “of other realities”» — la fórmula de los destellos es de la investigadora Linda Howe, citada por el autor (Howe 1993 y 1998).
«But the alien abduction phenomenon and the other anomalies named above seem to operate so far outside of the laws of physics (as traditionally understood) that they may require a new paradigm of reality to include them as real and an expansion of our ways of knowing to explore them» — la exigencia de paradigma nuevo va en *seem* y *may*, no en indicativo.
«It seems to me possible that the matters under consideration here will not yield their secrets to the methodologies of science that were evolved to explore phenomena that were accepted as existing entirely within the material world» — por qué el método heredado podría no servir: se desarrolló para objetos que se aceptaban como enteramente materiales.
«This is not to say that careful methods of observation and analysis should not be applied to the physical aspects of the alien abduction phenomenon» — el límite inmediato de lo anterior, en la misma plana: no propone abandonar el método, solo negarle el monopolio.
«In this apparently frustrating situation, there may lie a deeper truth and possibility» — lee la elusividad de la prueba como indicio y no como fracaso, siempre en potencial.
«Wallace Black Elk, who, like many native American elders, has had experiences with “disks,” “these little people,” and telepathic communication with them, mocks the literalness and limited knowing power of scientific materialism» — presenta a Black Elk como quien se burla del materialismo, no como quien lo refuta.
«The greatest source of information is the reports of the experiencers themselves» — dónde sitúa la fuente principal de datos.
«The use of a nonordinary state of consciousness, however—a relaxation exercise or modified hypnosis—can penetrate more deeply into the mystery of the experiences and help therapeutically to release the powerful emotions held within that seem almost always to be left in the wake of the experiences» — la hipnosis modificada se presenta con doble función, de indagación y terapéutica, y su efecto sobre las emociones retenidas va en *seem*.
«It’s definitely reality,” twelve-year-old Emily said, “and anybody can think that it’s not true or that we’re making things up. But we know what we’ve seen, and we believe it.» — en boca de Emily, doce años, del Ariel School; el digest atribuye estas palabras a Ellie, que es el personaje de *Contact*.
«It is the experiences themselves, and our—the experiencers’ and my—estimate of their reality that is our principal source of data in determining the truth of what has taken place» — declara que el dato incluye la estimación de realidad de las dos partes, la del experienciante y la suya.
«But the most powerful evidence is subjective, or intersubjective (see page 25), insofar as the experience is told to an interviewer» — sitúa la evidencia más fuerte en lo intersubjetivo, y por eso el entrevistador queda dentro del instrumento.
«We must make what is, in effect, a clinical as well as an ontological judgment» — nombra el doble juicio que la situación le exige, clínico y ontológico a la vez.
«the universe is filled with life, or entities of various sorts, and some of them have the capacity to show up on the material plane» — así resume lo que sostienen los pueblos nativos que ha entrevistado; el tramo sigue con *close-encounter* partido por el reflujo.
«Having set forth the framework in which I approach the abduction phenomenon, I wish now to set down what seem to me to be its fundamental elements» — anuncia el inventario de elementos básicos, con el *seem to me* incorporado.
«The orientation and ideology of the investigator, and the questions he or she asks or does not ask, will determine to some degree what data can be enabled or allowed to come forth and will affect profoundly the interpretation of the experiences» — consigna que el investigador condiciona el dato, y con eso relativiza de antemano su propio inventario.
«Experiencing varying degrees of anxiety, depending on the status of their relationship to the phenomenon, the experiencers describe being taken, usually against their will, to be floated through walls, doors, or windows into a curved enclosure that appears to contain computerlike and other technical equipment» — el núcleo descriptivo del relato típico, siempre en boca de los experienciantes.
«A central feature of the experience appears to be a complex sexual/ reproductive “project” that, after a sequence of experiences, may result in the apparent creation of hybrid beings» — el llamado proyecto híbrido, enunciado con *appears* y *apparent*; la partición de *sexual/ reproductive* es del reflujo del facsímil.
«The experiencers sometimes report that during the abduction implants are inserted under the skin or into one or another orifice, and they may feel certain that these represent some sort of tracking or monitoring devices. Several of these have been recovered surgically and analyzed» — los implantes, con la certeza puesta del lado de los experienciantes.
«evidence regarding the composition of the implants—whether or not they have bizarre physical or chemical characteristics suggesting nonearthly origins—has been inconsistent» — y el resultado del análisis, en negativo, apoyado en David Pritchard 1994. La frase arranca al pie de la plana anterior.
«The probes abductees experience appear to be correlated with nosebleeds, and the examinations with skin lesions (sometimes, as in the case of multiple abductions, in symmetrical patterns on more than one experiencer at the same time)» — la correlación somática que sí registra, con el detalle de los patrones simétricos en abducciones múltiples.
«The experiences may be altogether real from the standpoint of consciousness, but the hybrid offspring might not exist in material reality as we know it, especially as no clear physical evidence for their literal existence in this dimension has been found» — separa la realidad de la experiencia de la existencia material de la progenie híbrida, y remite al capítulo 6.
«Clearly these experiences have a physical as well as a psychological dimension» — concede la dimensión física sin concederle el todo.
«this penetration into the material world may be thought of as a kind of small iceberg-tip of a phenomenon of great depth, breadth, and meaning that extends far beyond the literal, physical realm» — la imagen de la punta del iceberg con que subordina lo material a lo que no lo es.
«The communication occurs through telepathic transmission, by images shown on televisionlike monitors, by contact with the large compelling eyes of the beings, and through the beings “taking” the experiencers to earthly environments that demonstrate one or another aspect of the Earth’s beauty and threatened ecology» — enumera las cuatro vías de transmisión de información que los relatos describen, incluida la del contacto ocular.
«Credo Mutwa, a leading African sanusi or high medicine man, who told me of his own abduction experiences (see chapter 10), said urgently, “I am shown that the world is dying. . . . These creatures are trying to warn us about danger. . . . The thing that you are looking into is real. It is not a figment of anybody’s imagination.» — en boca de Credo Mutwa, sanusi; los puntos suspensivos son de la propia obra, que corta la cita.
«It would appear that no direct intervention or “problem solving” is offered by the beings or whatever intelligence lies behind this phenomenon; it seems to operate through changing the consciousness of the experiencers and others who may open themselves to its meaning» — niega la intervención directa y sitúa el efecto en el cambio de consciencia, todo en potencial.
«One of the most intense debates in this field occurs around the ques tion of whether these changes in the psyche of the experiencers—no researchers seem to deny that such change, even transformation, does in fact occur in some cases—is an intrinsic aspect of the phenomenon, even its “purpose” or “intention,” or is instead a kind of by-product, reflecting human creativity, resilience, and adaptability in the face of traumatic challenge, or is even the result of alien trickery or deception» — consigna el desacuerdo del campo con sus tres ramas y no lo cierra; la partición de *ques tion* es del reflujo.
«The apparent expansion of psychic or intuitive abilities, a heightened reverence for nature with the feeling of having a life-preserving mission, the collapse of space/time perception, a sense of entering other dimensions of reality or universes, the conviction of possessing a dual human/ alien identity, a feeling of connection with all of creation, and related transpersonal experiences—all are such frequent features of the abduction phenomenon that I have come to feel that they are, at least potentially, basic elements of the process» — la lista de rasgos transpersonales que incorpora al núcleo del fenómeno, con el *at least potentially* que la acota.
«Even when abductees initially experience the beings themselves, especially the now well-known small gray figures with huge black eyes, as instigators of great fear and trauma, over time they may come to see them as odd spirit guides, closer to the ultimate creative principle or Source than humans, even as emissaries from the Divine» — describe el viraje de amenaza a guía espiritual como cosa que les ocurre a los experienciantes, no como tesis propia sobre los seres.
«When he told his Gurdjieff teacher about his experiences with the beings, which had initially been intensely terrifying, the teacher said, “Fifteen seconds with those people; fifteen years of meditation. You’re very lucky”» — la sentencia es del maestro de Gurdjieff de Whitley Strieber, recogida por el autor vía Strieber 1987 y 1996b.
«The gray reptilian beings seem to be more trauma-inducing, at least initially, than the light or human» — la gradación entre tipos de seres, con *seem* y *at least initially*; la frase cierra con los seres de apariencia humana.
«A deep familiarity and sense of meaningful connection develops between the experiencer and one or more of the beings, which can reach heights of love so profound as to be felt to be incompatible with earthly love» — describe la evolución del vínculo hacia un amor que los experienciantes sienten incompatible con el terrenal; el sujeto del sentir son ellos.
«Some abductees report that the beings come from a civilization destroyed by greed, war, or other technology-wrought devastation and have come here like colonists to replenish their biological stock» — la explicación del programa reproductivo, adjudicada a lo que reportan algunos experienciantes y no suscrita por el autor.
«Experiencers report that the beings appear to be greatly interested in our physicality and emotionality, seeming, as is said of angels, to envy our embodiment» — la analogía con los ángeles la pone el autor sobre lo que reportan los experienciantes.
«They may stage acts of sexual intercourse between humans so they can watch this primal, earthy expression of love and pleasure» — lo que los relatos atribuyen a los seres respecto de la sexualidad humana.
«Yet in the end there remain uncharted terrains and, as it were, anomalies within the anomalous that do not “fit” the emerging patterns» — reconoce que su propio inventario de patrones deja residuo sin encajar.
«Our ontological and linguistic categories seem at times to fall so short as to leave us gasping for new words» — el problema es de lengua y de ontología a la vez, y lo declara sin resolverlo.
«I may have some claim, if not to objectivity, at least to a relative lack of preconception» — todo lo que reclama para sí, y renuncia expresamente a la objetividad.
«I wouldn’t try to publish a scientific paper about these things, because I can’t do any experiments» — epígrafe del capítulo 2, del premio Nobel Kary Mullis sobre una experiencia suya de 1985. Es de Mullis.
«But I don’t deny what happened. It’s what science calls anecdotal, because it only happened in a way that you can’t reproduce» — cierre del mismo epígrafe de Mullis: no niega el hecho, niega que sea reproducible.
«But for someone like myself, who examines testimonies of people who report encounters with the presumed occupants of these craft, the question remains as to what sort of study is suitable for the subject matter at hand» — así plantea el problema metodológico del capítulo 2.
«As philosopher of science Paul Feyerabend wrote in the early 1990s, “the events, procedures and results that constitute the sciences have no common structure,” and “successful research does not obey general standards.”» — cita a Feyerabend para negar que exista un método único al que su objeto debiera someterse.
«In the case of the abduction phenomenon, it is hard even to know in what territory or territories of knowledge we are working» — dónde queda su objeto respecto de las disciplinas establecidas.
«Perhaps it is characteristic of certain anomalies that they refuse to locate themselves in any of our established disciplines, thus forcing us to use a multidisciplinary approach or requiring the creation of a new discipline altogether» — de ahí deriva, en potencial, la exigencia multidisciplinaria o de disciplina nueva.
«There has been a presumption in science that with sufficient scrupulosity and attention to method, true objectivity—a radical separation of subject from object —may somehow be attained» — enuncia la presunción que va a discutir; el espacio antes del guion es del reflujo.
«Quite a few decades ago, philosopher Alfred North Whitehead noted that all knowledge that human beings gain grows out of a complex “interplay of subject with object,” of knower and known, and that “subject and object are relative terms”» — apoya la objeción en Whitehead 1933.
«All research, as philosopher Henryk Skolimowski has demonstrated, is participatory and relies on “the art of communion with the object of enquiry”» — segundo apoyo, Skolimowski 1994.
«Ken Wilber, with his proclivity for useful but rather rigid categorizations, has defined three “eyes” of knowing: the eye of flesh (empiricism), the eye of mind (rationalism), and the eye of contemplation (mysticism)» — toma de Wilber los tres ojos del conocer y de paso califica de rígida su manía clasificatoria: adopta el esquema y marca distancia.
«Whatever instrument of knowing we use, knowledge begins with experience» — el axioma con que cierra el repaso epistemológico.
«Wilber has noted that empirical and positivistic science has always been “spooked” by inner reality (“interiors”), perhaps by experiences themselves, because they are so difficult to pin down or objectify» — de Wilber 1998; el diagnóstico del recelo positivista ante lo interior es suyo.
«Philosopher Michael Zimmerman suggests that in the alien abduction phenomenon, something complex is going on that requires us to move beyond the “dualistic conception of subjective psychology vs. objective matter-energy”» — la salida del dualismo la propone Zimmerman 1993, citado por el autor.
«The Sturrock report calls for a concentration on cases that “include as much physical evidence as possible”» — el panel científico presidido por Peter A. Sturrock, citado por su recomendación probatoria (Sturrock et al. 1998).
«Skin lesions have been repeatedly documented, yet it is almost impossible to prove that they are UFO or abduction related» — el límite de la evidencia corporal: el hallazgo se documenta, el nexo no se prueba.
«Implants when studied may turn out to be of conventional terrestrial or foreign-body nature (David Pritchard 1994, pp. 279–95; Leir 1998, pp. 213–29), or when they do seem to be truly strange, their “pedigree” (physicist David Pritchard’s word for the capacity to establish the history of an object taken from someone’s body that is clearly abduction related) cannot be established with certainty» — el problema del linaje del objeto, con el término de David Pritchard adoptado por el autor.
«UFOs and phenomena related to them are, for Harpur, the ultimate “daimonic realities.”» — así resume la posición de Patrick Harpur sobre el estatuto de los ovnis.
«There is always,” Harpur notes, “a point of discontinuity at which the spiritual ceases to be spiritual and becomes material and vice versa”» — el punto de discontinuidad es formulación de Harpur (p. 154 de su obra), citada por el autor.
«Morrison replied honestly that they were having enough trouble with their instruments as it was, and consciousness was so “messy.”» — la respuesta del astrónomo del SETI a la pregunta por la consciencia, referida por el autor.
«Consistency in reported personal experience, he proclaimed, is hard to come by, and therefore only physical evidence “withstands scientific scrutiny”» — la posición del físico David Pritchard (Pritchard 1998), que el autor consigna como el polo contrario al suyo.
«My only concern is that the determination to find or rely on physical proof in order to convince the skeptical elite that the abduction phenomenon is worthy of study should not distract us from appreciating and exploring in ever greater depth the meaning that these extraordinary experiences may hold» — su objeción no es a buscar prueba física, sino a que la búsqueda desplace la pregunta por el significado.
«Although abductees have been studied at some length, there does not appear to be a great deal that can be physically measured» — el balance de lo mensurable, en negativo.
«Their results confirmed what previous psychometric studies have shown (summarized in Mack 1995, pp. 4-5): no findings of personality disorder or other psychopathology that might explain the abduction phenomenon distinguished the experiencer from the control group» — el resultado psicométrico frente a grupo control, remitido a su propia recopilación de 1995.
«Roberta, as the clinical director of PEER, screens individuals with the use of a structured telephone interview» — el primer filtro del protocolo, a cargo de la trabajadora social psiquiátrica Roberta Colasanti.
«The intention of this screening tool is to help rule out gross mental illness, substance abuse, and suicidality» — los tres criterios de exclusión del filtro telefónico.
«The initial interview usually takes at least two hours, for we must establish trust, take a full personal history, examine the individual for possible psychiatric symptoms that may or may not relate to the presenting reason for coming, and of course review in detail the story of the possible abduction encounters or other anomalous experiences» — la duración y las cuatro tareas de la primera entrevista.
«Because of the importance, in the multiple-witness project, of keeping reports uncontaminated, we usually interview relatives and other possible witnesses separately» — el control de contaminación entre testigos, que es la garantía metodológica del proyecto de testigos múltiples.
«A modified hypnosis or relaxation exercise may be used to help focus the client’s attention upon their inner experience and memories, but it should be emphasized that about 80 percent of the information is obtained through conscious recollection» — la cifra con que responde de antemano a la objeción de que la hipnosis fabrica el relato.
«We are careful not to lead individuals or to encourage them to “produce” an abduction story— we use neutral, encouraging comments and questions» — la salvaguarda declarada contra la inducción.
«Psychiatrist C. Brooks Brenneis has framed well the dilemma clinicians face in doing any sort of exploration that seeks to recover memories. “Leaning in the direction of doubt,” he writes, “threatens betrayal,” while “leaning in the direction of belief” promotes fabrication» — el dilema entre duda y creencia es formulación de Brenneis; el autor lo adopta como descripción de su propia posición y no lo resuelve.
«Psychologist Shelley Tanenbaum comes close to describing this process when she writes of “an intuitive way of knowing based on the body as experienced during moment» — de Shelley Tanenbaum (1995, p. 3); la frase sigue con la atención plena momento a momento, que el reflujo parte en dos líneas.
«He wrote of “another way” of knowing that is “not rational, not irrational” but is based on “direct perception.”» — la fórmula es de Will, experienciante, en un artículo para el boletín de PEER (Maney 1998); el autor la recoge.
«Surely, as the poet Rainer Maria Rilke wrote, we must be prepared “for the most strange, the most singular and most inexplicable that we may encounter”» — invoca a Rilke para nombrar la disposición que su método pide.
«There is no injunction to establish the literal or material actuality of the reported experiences» — lo que el encuadre clínico expresamente no obliga a hacer.
«It is an example of a “white man” crediting matters that are sacred for them, that have been known in their cultures for centuries» — consigna qué representa su presencia para los curanderos indígenas que lo buscan, y lo trata como sesgo de la situación de entrevista.
«Thus there may be built-in pressures, conscious and unconscious, upon these individuals to come up with stories that will satisfy me, to make sure that I do not go away “empty handed.”» — el sesgo declarado contra su propio material indígena: la presión de complacer al investigador.
«As Whitehead has written, “The basis of experience is emotional” (Whitehead 1933, p. 176). Intense personal fear, excitement, anger, and grief have a universal language that points to actual events in someone’s life, thus suggesting, in Whitehead’s term, that there has been a “Provoker.”» — el término *Provoker* es de Whitehead; el autor lo usa para sostener que la emoción intensa apunta a un suceso real, sin decir cuál.
«He uses the terms “anthropocentric rationalism” and “anthropocentric humanism” to characterize the dominant zeitgeist or worldview of our scientific culture» — los dos términos son de Michael Zimmerman, no del autor, que los toma prestados para su diagnóstico.
«Rationalism in this context means not only the use of reason and the intellect to gain knowledge or to apply appropriate skepticism, but also the use of the mind to preempt or exclude, a priori, information that might challenge the prevailing worldview» — precisa en qué sentido usa *racionalismo*: no la razón, sino su empleo para excluir de antemano.
«Above all, this worldview underscores a fear of the unknown and keeps at bay for a time the knowledge of invisible realms» — la función que atribuye a esa cosmovisión, con el *for a time* que la vuelve provisional.
«The Creator Itself has been gradually removed, leaving us alone in a universe of dead matter and energy from which the gods have fled» — cómo describe el resultado de esa retirada.
«To destroy someone’s worldview is virtually to destroy that person» — por qué la resistencia a estos relatos es tan violenta: no es un desacuerdo de opinión.
«In the Zen tradition, the collapse of a worldview is called daishigyo, which means “the great death.”» — toma del zen el término para el colapso de cosmovisión.
«Catholic theologian Thomas Berry has written, “For peoples generally, their story of the universe and the human role in the universe is their primary source of intelligibility and value . . . the deepest crises experienced by any society are those moments of change when the story becomes inade quate for meeting the survival demands of the present situation”» — de Thomas Berry (1990); la partición de *inade quate* es del reflujo, y los puntos suspensivos son de la obra.
«The UFO abduction phenomenon seems especially well suited to challenge the anthropocentric humanistic worldview» — por qué este fenómeno y no otro cumple esa función de choque, dicho con *seems*.
«Zimmerman has called UFOs “ultraterrestrial agents of cultural deconstruction”» — la fórmula es de Zimmerman 1997, recogida por el autor.
«The popular movie The Truman Show can be seen as a metaphor for how a worldview limits what is possible for a person to perceive or know» — usa la película como imagen de la burbuja perceptiva; la metáfora es suya.
«Wittgenstein appears to have been right that “the way we look at things” is much more than a matter of philosophical belief» — apoya en Wittgenstein la tesis de que la mirada es cultural antes que filosófica.
«Distinguished scientists like Dean Radin and Rupert Sheldrake, after extensive reviews, have shown that the standards of research in this field— the percentage, for example, of blind experiments and controlled studies— exceeds that of other branches of science» — el argumento sobre el rigor de la parapsicología no es suyo: lo atribuye a Radin y Sheldrake.
«According to another renowned physicist, Michio Kaku, the positing of parallel universes and the matter of “what happened before the big bang,” far from being without meaning, are the dominant questions within cos» — de Michio Kaku; la palabra *cosmology* queda partida por el corte de plana.
«For Kaku “what happened just before the big bang is also the moment when God said,‘Let there be light’”» — el cruce entre cosmología y relato bíblico lo hace Kaku, no el autor.
«According to Kaku, what can be seen through the largest telescope is but “a tiny little saucer,” surrounded by dark matter that is vastly greater» — la desproporción entre lo visible y la materia oscura, en boca de Kaku.
«He suggests four levels: everyday world, the spirit realm, God, and the ultimate creative principle or “Godhead.”» — la escala ontológica es del teólogo Huston Smith, citada por el autor.
«Smith, noting too that perhaps ninety-nine percent of the matter in this universe does not “impact” any of our instruments, postulates an “invisible order with its own population and ways of behaving” that may not even “need physical underpinnings”» — Huston Smith enlaza la materia oscura con un orden invisible que podría no necesitar sustrato físico. Es de Smith.
«But for theologian Smith, it is precisely the “messy” meditational, mediational, and other consciousness-expanding and spiritual exercises known to indigenous cultures and to all the “wisdom traditions”» — para Smith la vía de acceso a esos dominios son las prácticas que la ciencia llama desprolijas.
«remote viewing (Puthoff 1996, Radin 1997), and focused out-of-body techniques (Buhlman 1996)—that may at least allow us to initiate access to these hidden realms» — el autor añade a la lista de Smith las técnicas modernas —la respiración holotrópica y la hipnosis entre ellas— y acota el alcance a *iniciar* el acceso.
«My own view of a secular universe, devoid of consciousness and intelligence “beyond the brain” (Grof 1985), gave way little by little over several decades and now seems quite absurd» — data su propio cambio de convicción en décadas, no en un episodio, y remite a Grof 1985.
«So convincing has this evidence seemed that I have, at times, been slow to realize that others have not traveled the same road and are not so ready to accept as true what sometimes appears clear or even obvious to me» — reconoce el sesgo de su propia convicción frente al lector.
«My colleague Paul Bernstein wrote in a note to me that “perhaps the greater weakness in the field of abduction research is not inadequacies in its methodology so much as the paucity of courage motivating a sufficient number» — el diagnóstico de falta de coraje es de Paul Bernstein en carta al autor.
«I do not share Bernstein’s notion of courage in this regard, for I believe that a “calling,” the choice of what we undertake, may seem virtually to be forced upon us» — y el autor lo rechaza en la plana siguiente: desacuerdo consignado, no armonizado.
«I would, however, welcome more qualified people to explore the subject of abductions and related matters, and I hope that this book will stimulate some to do so» — lo que sí pide, en lugar del coraje: más gente calificada.
«Finally, I can only agree with Whitehead that “the doctrines which best repay critical examination are those which for the longest period have remained unquestioned.”» — cierra el capítulo metodológico con Whitehead.
«Anthropologist Jeremy Narby notes that the most important thing he has learned from his researches is that “we see what we believe, and not just the contrary; and to change what we see, it is sometimes necessary to change what we believe”» — de Jeremy Narby (1998, p. 139), en nota al pie.
«Subjects, as in research subjects, will not do, for we work together as coinvestigators or joint explorers» — cómo resuelve el problema de nombrar a las personas con quienes trabaja, y por qué descarta *sujetos*.
«Although I write about some forty of the more than 200 people I have interviewed in the past nine years, I draw particularly heavily on the experiences of a few individuals whom I have gotten to know well enough to be able to explore their stories in some depth» — declara el tamaño real de su corpus y el sesgo de profundidad sobre unos pocos casos.
«In most cases I have used pseudonyms indicated by an asterisk before their names; a few individuals have given me permission to use their own first names» — la convención tipográfica con que la obra distingue seudónimo de nombre real: el asterisco antes del nombre.
«I do, however, provide a reference when I quote from statements they made at a conference or in a letter, in an interview with someone else, in an article or paper» — la regla de citación: las entrevistas propias van sin fecha, lo publicado o dicho en otro foro lleva referencia.
«Abby was a thirty-year-old married hairstylist, living on the West Coast, when she called me to see if I could help her remember more about several incidents that had occurred in 1991, culminating in an encounter in Mexico where she and her husband-to-be had been camping. She recalled consciously seeing intense light fill her tent, strange large heads lean over her, and being stuck in the arm with needles» — la ficha biográfica de Abby, seudónimo; el recuerdo consciente precede a la sesión de relajación.
«Andrea is a forty-five-year-old married mother of two daughters living in the northeastern United States. She has a degenerative eye disorder that has left her legally blind» — la ficha biográfica de Andrea, seudónimo, que participa además en el proyecto de testigos múltiples de PEER.
«At the recommendation of Cynthia Hind, a respected and experienced UFO investigator in Harare, Timothy Leach, the BBC bureau chief there who had been investigating the story, faxed a number of the children’s drawings to my associate Dominique Callimanopulos and me and asked us to investigate the incident» — la cadena documentada por la que el caso del Ariel School llegó al autor, con nombres y cargos.
«Allowing for variations in the children’s perceptions and artistic style, the images in the drawings were remarkably consistent» — lo que sostiene sobre los dibujos, con la salvedad de estilo incluida.
«the teachers and headmaster came to the conclusion, as one teacher put it, that the children had seen something that was “not of this world.”» — la conclusión es del cuerpo docente y del director, citada por el autor.
«When I played the devil’s advocate with one of the children and offered the possibility that a child had made up the story and got the others to tell it to the teachers as a prank, she thought this over carefully and replied that she could see how an adult might think that, but “that’s not what happened.”» — consigna su propio contraste con la hipótesis de la broma y la respuesta de la niña.
«Bernardo Peixoto is a Brazilian shaman, anthropologist, and ethnobotanist» — presenta a Peixoto con las tres credenciales a la vez, indígena y académica.
«Carlos was thirty-seven when we first met in October 1995 in Düsseldorf, Germany, where we were both presenting at a UFO conference organized by researcher Michael Hesemann» — dónde y cuándo conoció a Carlos Diaz, fotógrafo mexicano que habla con su nombre real.
«We were impressed with how well respected Carlos is by the townspeople of Tepoztlan for his integrity and truthfulness» — el criterio de credibilidad que aporta es de reputación local, no de prueba.
«Throughout his adult life, Carlos has suffered from a seizure disorder, now well controlled with medication» — consigna el trastorno convulsivo de Carlos Diaz y especula, en la frase siguiente, con su posible relación con la capacidad perceptiva que permite las experiencias; el corte de chunk parte esa frase.
«In 1994 he courageously permitted a relaxation session to be filmed for NBC’s Dateline, but this powerful and revealing interview was greatly cut and a banally debunking presentation was produced» — consigna cómo un medio televisivo trató el material clínico: dato de recepción, con el juicio del autor incluido.
«More than ever he feels certain that these encounters are part of a “dimensional shift” in human consciousness, “toward the light.”» — el *dimensional shift* es fórmula de Dave, experienciante; el autor la recoge entrecomillada y no la suscribe.
«This view contrasted sharply with the fundamentalist Christian attitude in which he had grown up, and which he was still encountering, that interpreted his experiences as demon possession or the work of Satan» — consigna la lectura cristiana fundamentalista como interpretación rival vigente, sin refutarla.
«In connection with this purpose, she attended the Barbara Brennan School of Healing and in 1997 wrote a thesis, Communion, that tells of her journey of self-discovery and her exploration of the Kabbalistic healing traditions and her Jewish roots» — el hilo cabalístico de la obra pasa por la tesis de Eva, titulada *Communion*, y no por lectura del autor.
«Whatever remains unintegrated in a person’s nature, Greg suggested, may show up in the experiences» — la lectura de la sombra es de Greg, médico y experienciante; el verbo es *suggested*.
«In his view the nature of alien encounters is reflective of the consciousness of the individual» — cierre de la posición de Greg: la forma del encuentro dependería del estado de quien lo vive.
«Whatever the source of the abduction experiences, Isabel has always believed that they had something to do with religion» — la adscripción religiosa es de Isabel, y el autor la deja sin arbitrar la fuente.
«He is trusted by black healers and has pioneered quite successfully to have traditional healing methods included in the national health care program, working to reconcile African and Western approaches to health and medicine» — la posición institucional de Credo Mutwa en Sudáfrica, que es lo que sostiene su autoridad como informante.
«She attributes much of her creative power and insights to the encounters themselves, which, she believes, brought about a kind of neuropsychological “reprogramming.”» — la *reprogramación* neuropsicológica es explicación de Jean sobre sí misma, no diagnóstico del psiquiatra.
«For without hypnosis or any other relaxation exercises, Jim has had quite full recall of alien encounters since 1989» — el caso que le sirve para responder a la objeción de que la hipnosis fabrica los relatos.
«resulting in his becoming a political activist on behalf of the survival of the planet’s life, including a project to obtain amnesty for government officials who have concealed information about UFO or abduction phenomena» — la derivación política del caso de Jim Sparks, con el proyecto de amnistía incluido.
«Julie was one of my first cases, and she taught me the basic elements of the abduction phe nomenon.» — invierte la relación de saber: la experienciante es quien le enseña; la partición de *phe nomenon* es del reflujo.
«Indeed, the chief of psychology in our department concluded his battery of psychological tests with the diagnosis of a “high functioning woman within a healthy neurotic [neurotic is a kind of compliment in mental health circles] level of development,” ending his report with the statement, “The exact nature and status of her anxiety remains a mystery even after the testing.”» — el resultado de la batería psicológica en un caso concreto, citado del informe ajeno; el corchete aclaratorio es del autor.
«Terrified initially by his experiences, as he explored them he soon came to see their potential importance for personal and cultural transformation» — el arco de terror a sentido, descrito como recorrido del experienciante.
«Rusty was one of my first teachers about the abduction phenomenon» — vuelve a poner a un experienciante en lugar de maestro, como en la dedicatoria del libro.
«He asserts he had an out-of-body experience in those moments and that nonhuman entities encouraged him to return to his body» — el episodio extracorporal de Will, en verbo de decir.
«To the best of my knowledge, none of these experts have found evidence to challenge their authenticity» — lo que puede sostener sobre las fotografías de Carlos Diaz: que nadie halló prueba en contra, no que se haya probado nada.
«For the experiencers themselves, what they have undergone is altogether real, “as real as my five kids,” Nona told me» — la medida de realidad la pone Nona, experienciante, comparándola con sus cinco hijos.
«However powerful and vivid their encounters may be, these events are contrary to what most abductees have grown up to believe is possible» — la contradicción entre lo vivido y lo aprendido, que es el motor del choque que describe en seguida.
«The fact, as is frequently reported, that not everyone around them seems to perceive what they do understandably reinforces doubt for abductees about the reality of their experiences» — consigna el efecto de la falta de testigos sobre la propia certeza de quien lo vive.
«Interestingly, at the Multidisciplinary Study Group Conference on anomalous experiences several of the participants remarked that we seem not really to have a “science of experience.”» — nota al pie: la carencia la enuncian varios participantes de la conferencia, no el autor solo.
«I have used the term ontological shock to describe the experience that many abductees go through at the moment when they can no longer deny that what they have undergone is in some way real» — define el *ontological shock* como término propio y lo sitúa en el momento en que cede la negación.
«It’s all been shattered. It’s like I’ve got a five-thousand-piece puzzle of the blue sky to try to put together» — la imagen del rompecabezas es de Sharon, psicóloga y experienciante.
«Isolation. That was the term that [in our first meeting] reassured me the most» — en boca de un experienciante: lo que lo tranquilizó fue que el clínico nombrara el aislamiento; el corchete es de la obra.
«Events like this cannot be understood within the structures that we live» — la formulación del límite social del suceso, dicha por un experienciante.
«But in distinction to a dream, the person realizes he or she was not asleep (some experiences occur in the middle of daytime activities); they feel they have remembered something that actually occurred; the narrative has a logical sequence, however strange its content; and the episode, when recalled or relived, may be accompanied by intense emotions and bodily reactions more usually associated with remembered events than with dreams» — los cuatro rasgos con que distingue el relato del sueño, y ninguno es prueba: son marcas de la fenomenología del recuerdo.
«For Credo Mutwa, the abduction phenomenon and the gray beings (called mantindane in his culture) are altogether real, and he is impatient and even scornful of those, especially in the West, who doubt it» — la posición de Mutwa sobre la realidad de los mantindane, consignada con su desdén por el escepticismo occidental.
«Carol, to help herself with reality testing, distinguishes three types of dreams—ordinary dreams, shamanic or spirit-guided dreams, and “type three” dreams, which are experiences the psyche recalls as events that may have really happened. These, she says, occur in some sort of full waking consciousness and may even seem “hyperreal.”» — la tipología de los tres sueños es de Carol, enfermera y experienciante, construida por ella como prueba de realidad propia.
«I just get mad,” he told me, “because this thing is real.» — Credo Mutwa sobre el escepticismo occidental. Es de él.
«Michael Grosso, like Michael Zimmerman, is a philosopher who has grasped the ontological ambiguities of the UFO abduction phenomenon» — así presenta a los dos filósofos de los que toma su categoría intermedia.
«UFO encounters, he notes, are strange hybrids of mind and matter» — la fórmula del híbrido mente-materia es de Michael Grosso, no del autor.
«They seem to come from both outside and “our inside” and therefore belong, like apparitions of the Virgin Mary, fairies, demons or “other creatures of an elemental, discarnate or excarnate nature,” to a “third zone of being” that does not conform to the inside/outside duality by which we conventionally polarize reality» — la *tercera zona del ser* es de Grosso, y lo que agrupa en ella son apariciones marianas, hadas y demonios junto con los ovnis.
«The fact that these accounts are, much of the time, not accompanied by corroborating physical evidence may not diminish their importance for the development of our knowledge and the understanding of the nature of reality, consciousness, and human identity» — la ausencia de corroboración física no le resta valor cognoscitivo, y lo dice en potencial.
«It means, however, that we need to be more critical and discerning in analyzing their content and not accept the physical reality of UFO-related experiences at face value» — el límite inmediato de lo anterior: menos prueba exige más criba, no menos.
«To study the abduction phenomenon productively, I believe, the full range of human consciousness, its complex properties and manifold dimensions, need to be considered in their own right» — lo que propone en lugar de la prueba material: tomar la consciencia entera como objeto legítimo.
«Julie warns that “even the choice of the word abduction” is “an interpretation” and “leads us down a certain path.”» — la advertencia sobre el nombre del fenómeno es de Julie, experienciante, no del autor.
«Similarly, for Karin, in the other realm—what she calls “the fourth dimension”—“everything is always present,” and “three-dimensional reality is included within it.”» — la *cuarta dimensión* es término de Karin, experienciante.
«Catherine (see Mack 1995, chap. 7) spoke of a kind of “training center” to which she had been taken where it was determined what beings would come to Earth» — el centro de entrenamiento es relato de Catherine, remitido al libro de 1994.
«Angela Thompson Smith describes a telepathic conversation with an entity she calls the Monitor. He seemed unable to accept our concept of time. When she tried to explain various human ways of measuring time—clocks, sundials, and the like—she says he objected, “But you are just measuring the passage of the sun, not time”» — el diálogo sobre el tiempo es de Angela Thompson Smith con la entidad que ella llama el Monitor.
«Physicist Arthur Zajonc has connected such differences to evolving changes in the way human beings perceive: “We are now being called upon to see new things» — de Arthur Zajonc; la frase sigue con la transformación del sí mismo y de los órganos de percepción que eso exigiría.
«Andrea herself concludes with some frustration,“I think there is a choice. They, the ETs, someone, big boss . . . some intelligence is making a choice whether to be seen or not.» — la explicación de por qué unos ven y otros no la da Andrea, y el autor la deja sin resolver.
«Karin calls the other reality she perceives during her experiences the “fourth dimension.”“It’s what we call illusion, but it’s not illusion.» — Karin niega expresamente que su cuarta dimensión sea ilusión.
«I don’t think it’s technology. I think it’s more intent.» — Julie sobre el traslado entre puntos: lo atribuye a la intención y no a la técnica.
«Ron Bryan at Texas A&M is one of the few physicists who has discussed consciousness as a vehicle of interdimensional transport. He conceives of parallel universes as tubes lying very close to each other, “say a millimeter away.”» — la hipótesis de los tubos paralelos es del físico Ron Bryan. La obra imprime *Thorne 1994* sin nombre de pila: la grafía completa que trae el digest no está en el libro.
«Jim Sparks, like Julie, speaks of“interdimensional travel” and “the ability to go from point A to point B in no time at all” or “to occupy the same space in a different dimension.”» — el vocabulario del viaje interdimensional es de Jim Sparks, experienciante que habla con su nombre real.
«They call themselves ‘star people,’” Jim says.“I know they come from other dimensions . . . this ‘field’ renders distance inconsequential”» — la denominación *star people* y la explicación por campo son de Jim Sparks.
«The abduction phenomenon seems particularly well suited to impact radically the consciousness of our culture, not only because of the compelling quality of the experiences themselves but also because of its apparent ability to manifest in the material world and to appear to take on the forms of recognizable advanced» — por qué este fenómeno golpea a esta cultura: habla su idioma técnico; la frase cierra en *technologies* del otro lado del corte de chunk.
«His abduction experiences have, he believes, left him with special sensitivities, which include an ability to intuit the troubled consciousness of particular patients from working with samples of their bodily lesions» — la sensibilidad diagnóstica adquirida es afirmación de Greg, médico y experienciante, sobre sí mismo.
«One of Greg’s purposes in coming to see me has been to further dislodge the grip of the materialist paradigm on my psyche» — invierte otra vez la dirección del tratamiento: el paciente viene a curar al psiquiatra de su materialismo.
«“What’s real,” he says, “is so beyond this paradigm. We don’t just go there because we’re not ready to just go there. It would be a quantum jump.”» — el *salto cuántico* es de Greg.
«Nona, for example, feels that “a veil is being broken down.”» — la imagen del velo es de Nona, experienciante.
«In summary, much of the debate about the abduction phenomenon has centered upon whether it is real in a material sense» — resume el estado del debate para desplazarlo enseguida.
«Philosopher Michael Grosso calls this reality a “third zone,” neither strictly inside nor outside the mind that knows it» — el pasaje remite a Grosso 2004: una referencia posterior a la muerte del autor dentro de un texto de 1999, señal de que la conmemorativa tocó el cuerpo.
«But it is not really a zone at all—how difficult it is not to slip into spatial metaphors—but a realm or realms that appear to be close to the ultimate creative source from which all matter/energy comes» — corrige la metáfora espacial mientras la usa, y ése es el límite que la formulación lleva dentro.
«For me no aspect of the abduction phenomenon affirms that it is, in some way, real more compellingly than the extraordinary energy that experiencers consistently report is associated with it» — declara cuál es, para él, el indicio más fuerte de realidad: la energía reportada, no la prueba física.
«The sense of a higher vibratory “frequency” appears to be directly related to the feeling of a shift of consciousness itself to higher levels» — enlaza frecuencia y estado de consciencia, y lo dice como correlación entre dos sensaciones, no entre dos magnitudes.
«Although these reports are anecdotal, they occur with such frequency and regularity that they should not be ignored» — concede el carácter anecdótico y lo compensa con la frecuencia y la regularidad.
«Sheila spoke of a “very loud noise and flashing lights,” preceding experiences that were “full of electricity,” while Peter, in the throes of recalling one of his abductions, cried out, “All the cells in my body are vibrating.”» — dos testimonios, de Sheila y de Peter, sobre el ruido y la vibración celular.
«The yellow-orange-red vessels into which Carlos Diaz experiences being taken seem to be composed of a form of light» — sobre las esferas que describe Carlos Diaz, con el verbo en *seem*.
«It is usually said to be blue or bluish but may be white or even red» — el color de la luz, tal como lo reportan los experienciantes.
«Light plays an important role in the “transport” to the craft and may be in the form of a beam, thread, tube, or tunnel, which can seem to protect the experiencer from the cold outside» — las cuatro formas que toma la luz en el traslado, y su función protectora.
«They may feel that their vibratory level has been raised by their encounters, as if to attune them to the vibrations of the beings and the alien environment—“so you’re not burned,” Karin remarks» — la sintonización vibratoria, con el remate de Karin: para no quemarse.
«I have used the term reified metaphor to capture the idea that these words may express both a literal or instrumental meaning and a metaphoric or symbolic idea» — define *reified metaphor* como término propio, y su rasgo es sostener los dos sentidos a la vez.
«Thread, for example, may be tied to a feeling of spiritual connection, while tunnels or tubes are related to birth or rebirth experiences» — los dos ejemplos con que ilustra la metáfora reificada.
«He came up the companionway ladder, he said, and off the starboard side of the boat, he saw a “city of lights.”» — la *ciudad de luces* es de Will, experienciante, en un episodio en el mar.
«The beings that contacted her, she said, were, like those in Will’s experience, “very refined energy presences. They were literally beings of light.”» — los *seres de luz* son formulación de Jean; el autor solo señala la coincidencia con lo de Will.
«Jean “came to understand” that she was “one of a number of people who were being neurologically reprogrammed to be transceivers.”» — la reprogramación neurológica y el papel de transceptora son de Jean; el entrecomillado del autor marca que la fórmula es de ella.
«These people were to be “instruments for an intergalactic council that was working through us with people here on Earth, with social institutions and with the environment to foment a transformation” that would be “not violent in terms of the destruction of nature.”» — el consejo intergaláctico y su condición de no violencia hacia la naturaleza son del relato de Jean.
«Jean’s personal transformation was also a “physical healing process,” an “untying of psychological knots.”» — cómo describe ella el efecto sobre su cuerpo y su psique.
«It was like a hard-drive tune-up, and then new software put in.» — la comparación informática es de Jean, y es el ejemplo más claro de que el vocabulario del relato lo pone la época.
«Andrea attributes to the light itself the energy to float her out of the house up to a spaceship» — la agencia se atribuye a la luz, y la atribución es de Andrea.
«Ancient Egypt “is very misunderstood. . . . They [historians] focused on the wrong time.» — la corrección a los historiadores es de una experienciante, no del autor; el corchete aclaratorio es de la obra.
«People can “live two lives,” she asserted. “My eyes are opening. They want me to be a teacher here.”» — la doble vida y la misión docente son de ella.
«This huge light lives inside me. It doesn’t ever leave my body.» — la permanencia de la luz en el cuerpo, dicha por Karin.
«a kind of spacious but concentrated “centeredness” (I do not know a better word)» — así nombra el estado en que acompaña a quien revive la experiencia, y declara en el paréntesis que le falta la palabra.
«He was holding a gold ankh, an Egyptian symbol of enduring life, and “he tells me ‘this is magic.’”» — la visión del ankh es de Nona; la identificación egipcia del símbolo la pone el autor.
«Isabel also feels that her body has been changed or shifted as a result of the intense energies associated with her encounters» — el cambio corporal es afirmación de Isabel sobre sí misma.
«It’s all connected. We are all interconnected”» — la fórmula de la interconexión es de Nona, experienciante, y el autor la remite a su capítulo 5.
«These energies, she feels, contain great powers for healing and creativity—or for destruction, if they are misused» — la ambivalencia de esas energías, con la salvedad del mal uso, es lectura de Nona.
«I’m not trying to claim that I reached any point of enlightenment or anything like that» — Isabel se pone su propio límite: no reclama iluminación. Es el tipo de acotación que la ficha conserva porque la fuente la trae.
«Isabel herself attributed the lifting of her depression both to the internal energetic shifts and to her renewed connection with the guardian figure» — la explicación de la remisión de su depresión es de ella, y el autor marca con *herself* que no la suscribe.
«It is not clear, however, whether the beings “come” to heal the per son’s trauma,» — el autor declara no saber si la curación es propósito de los seres o efecto colateral; la partición de *per son* es del reflujo.
«Abby was twenty-four and camping with her husband-to-be in Mexico when, she recalls, their tent and surroundings were bathed in light, and she saw four luminous beings with large heads and thick necks» — el episodio de México, en verbo de recordar.
«One of the beings, a female, calmed Abby by touching her on the forehead» — el gesto de la entidad femenina, según el relato de Abby en sesión.
«The ability to change matter into nonmatter and vice versa,” she said.» — lo que Abby dice haber aprendido en el episodio. Es de ella.
«They use no machines to go through matter,” she continued.» — y su precisión: el paso por la materia sería sin máquinas.
«They don’t like the word ship,” she remarked, and she did not either, so we settled on “the place where they do their work.”» — cómo se negocia el vocabulario dentro de la sesión: el término lo fijan entre los dos, y el autor lo consigna.
«I’ve never felt so powerful before, ever. I felt like I could rocket somebody across the room with the energy”» — la sensación de poder tras el episodio, dicha por Abby.
«When they relive the memories of moving through solid forms, it is striking how similar are the words they use—“cells separating,” “coming apart at the molecular level,” and so on» — el argumento por convergencia léxica entre relatos independientes, que es de los pocos datos duros que maneja.
«Many feel that some sort of permanent change in the vibratory frequency of their bodies occurs as a result of their experiences» — el cambio permanente lo sienten ellos; el verbo es *feel*.
«MIT physicist David Pritchard (whose specialty is optical physics) wrote to me after reading an early draft of this chapter, “The abductees’ light may provide illumination for them, but it doesn’t for me.» — la objeción del físico David Pritchard, citada por carta y conservada tal cual: desacuerdo consignado dentro del capítulo que discute.
«Similarly, Arthur Zajonc, another physicist who has made the study of light his specialty and has explored the complex relationship between physical light and light as known in spiritual experiences» — presenta a Zajonc como el segundo físico que le pone reparos; la frase sigue del otro lado del corte de chunk con la afirmación de que la luz interior es de otro orden.
«Both of these scientists, in contrast to Atwater, caution us that in our quest to find ultimate unifying connections between the outer and inner worlds, essential distinctions, an irreducible duality, may in the end remain» — recoge la advertencia de los dos físicos sobre una dualidad irreducible y no la disuelve.
«Former NASA physical scientist Barbara Brennan, who has devoted her life to studying these energies (sometimes referred to as the “human energy field” or the “universal energy field”), has observed that they seem to have great healing properties, and a vast array of alternative therapies based on their application have been developed in recent years» — los campos de energía humana y universal se citan por Barbara Brennan, que es también la escuela por la que pasan varios informantes de la obra.
«They also, Brennan observes, seem to be directly associated with various forms or changes of consciousness and to “evade normal scientific explanations”» — de Brennan 1987: la elusividad de esos campos ante la explicación científica.
«But of greater significance, perhaps, are the discoveries by physicists that the universe is expanding—that galaxies are flying apart at an accelerating rate (Riess et al. 1998)3—and that space itself, far from being empty and lifeless, is filled with its own powerful fluctuating energy, called the vacuum energy field or zero point energy» — trae la energía del vacío como el punto donde la física de su época deja de dar el espacio por vacío.
«Physicist Brian O’Leary has documented the controversial results reported by pioneering inventors who have tried to tap into the energies that fill space» — el dato es de Brian O’Leary, y el autor conserva el calificativo de *controversial*.
«Finally, Rudolf Schild suggests that black holes, located at the nuclei of galaxies, seem to function as if they were other universes or connected to other dimensions of reality, especially as we have no way to penetrate them—even laser beams directed at them seem to break up when they reach their margins» — la hipótesis de los agujeros negros como puertas es del astrofísico Rudolf Schild.
«Schild wonders if the UFOs and the “aliens” have somehow discovered a way to master the quantum fluctuations of the vacuum energy field in order to transport themselves and enter the Earth’s atmosphere» — la conjetura sobre el mecanismo de transporte es de Schild y se enuncia como pregunta.
«I am not suggesting that the light or energy phenomena perceived or experienced by abductees leave no physical traces or have no physical effects» — el deslinde: no niega efectos físicos, niega saber su naturaleza.
«But what remains unknown is the precise nature or source of that energy and how it finds its way into our material world» — y lo que declara desconocido, que es justamente el mecanismo.
«The experiences of light in abduction encounters may be linked to powerful feelings of love» — el enlace entre luz y amor, dicho en potencial, con que abre el tramo siguiente.
«From the time of the great scientist Michael Faraday, it has been known that some sort of waves, “the vibrations of physical lines of force,” are at the core of reality» — trae a Faraday vía Zajonc 1995 para dar antecedente físico al vocabulario vibratorio de los relatos.
«For light quanta, pho tons, are without mass, and light appears to exist everywhere with no apparent physical substrate» — el fotón sin masa como caso donde la propia física prescinde de sustrato material; la partición de *pho tons* es del reflujo.
«As Arthur Zajonc has written, light seems to be omnipresent and eternal, existing outside of space and time» — de Zajonc; el autor lo usa como bisagra entre luz física y luz de la experiencia espiritual.
«“The nature of light cannot be reduced to matter; it is its own thing,” a “subtle, entangled”» — sigue la cita de Zajonc 1995; la frase continúa con el adjetivo que la cierra.
«It is here, perhaps, that the physical and the nonphysical meet, where spirit and matter intertwine, and where the unknown and the unknowable (at least by the methods of empirical science) touch each other» — su formulación del punto de contacto, con el paréntesis que restringe lo incognoscible al método empírico y no en absoluto.
«It does not tell us what they are or from what source they come» — el límite que se pone en la misma plana: la analogía con la física no dice qué son esas energías.
«These seem to derive, abductees sometimes note, from the different “vibrational frequency” of the two species» — la diferencia de frecuencia entre especies es observación de los experienciantes, no del autor.
«I first learned that the UFO abduction phenomenon was in some way connected with the planetary ecology crisis» — data su propio hallazgo del hilo ecológico.
«Indeed, it seems to me quite possible that the protection of the Earth’s life is at the heart of the abduction phenomenon» — la tesis ecológica de la obra, dicha como posibilidad y en primera persona.
«Astonishingly, the damage we have been inflicting upon the Earth’s life-forms appears not to have gone “unnoticed” by whatever intelligence or creative principle dwells in the cosmos, and it is providing some sort of feedback to us, how ever strange its form appears to be» — la formulación más fuerte de esa tesis: el daño es advertido y devuelto como retroalimentación; el *whatever* deja sin nombrar al agente.
«Abductees report information comes to them in a number of ways, including direct telepathic communication or eye-to-eye contact with the beings themselves, lessons transmitted on televisionlike screens, in classroomlike situations on the ships, and in different sorts of “libraries” where knowledge is contained» — las cuatro vías por las que llega la información, incluidas las *bibliotecas*, siempre en verbo de reportar.
«In order to be able to take in or “access” the information that is being given to them, abductees feel that they must adjust their “vibratory rates.”» — la condición vibratoria del acceso a la información es cosa que ellos sienten.
«The sense that they are somehow being “reprogrammed” by their experiences so that they can take in knowledge and put it out for others—becoming, in Jean’s word, “transceivers”—appears to be directly related to this informational dimension» — el autor adopta el término de Jean y marca expresamente de quién es.
«Credo Mutwa calls himself “just an ordinary person,” but the “mantindane” have given him knowledge that is sometimes “so advanced that I can’t handle it, but it all has to do with the survival of my people.”» — el saber técnico recibido lo afirma Mutwa de sí mismo, ligado a la supervivencia de su pueblo.
«Credo was also “given several designs” for constructing ships. “One of the most important designs,” he said, was for a tanker that would not “urinate oil into the sea.”» — el diseño del buque sin derrames, en palabras de Mutwa.
«Jim Sparks has written that he was trained aboard the ships in what he calls “alien boot camp”» — el *boot camp* es término de Jim Sparks, tomado de su propio escrito.
«“For the most part,” Jim writes, “they don’t like to answer direct questions. They answer in riddles.”» — la forma de la enseñanza según Sparks: acertijo y no respuesta.
«Credo Mutwa speaks of this planet as “our Mother Earth,” a special “nurturing place” where new species are “allowed to reach maturity and per fection,” a “mother world” or “womb world,” “a growing place, a garden which we are messing up.”» — la serie de nombres que Mutwa da a la Tierra; la partición de *per fection* es del reflujo.
«According to African culture and religion,” he told us, “there are twenty-four mother worlds in the sky, and our Earth is the twenty-fifth.» — la cosmografía de los veinticinco mundos madre es de Mutwa y la adjudica él mismo a la cultura y la religión africanas.
«This uniquely created world, he says, is “guarded by ancient entities, such as whales and others, which we kill in our stupidity.”» — los guardianes ancestrales, en boca de Mutwa, son las ballenas entre otros.
«Sue, for example, who has become a powerful environmental activist, said at the 1992 conference at M.I.T., “I’d like to make it clear that I have no formal education in environmental sciences. I am self-taught”» — el descargo de formación lo pone Sue misma, en la conferencia del MIT de 1992.
«Karin too said, “I never was an environmentalist” and learned about the environment by “going to school” on the ships» — Karin sitúa el origen de su conciencia ecológica en las naves, no en su formación previa.
«Although there is no evidence that the children at the Ariel School were abducted during their encounter, several of the ones I interviewed said that they received information, primarily through the black eyes of the beings, about the danger to the planet’s life» — vuelve a retirar la afirmación de rapto sobre los niños del Ariel School y conserva el contenido del mensaje.
«Jim Sparks was taught that as a species, “we humans are in the early stages of development” and are “too dangerous to be set free in the universe to do as we please.”» — el juicio sobre la humanidad, según lo que Sparks dice haber recibido.
«We are inflicting unwelcome changes on a world, sir, which is really not ours» — Mutwa, dirigiéndose al autor: la Tierra no sería propiedad humana.
«These blue baldies [her name for the gray aliens]—I won’t say they own this Earth. This is their home. I think this is where they belonged first. They are the keepers, the true keepers of the Earth. . . . They’re here to help us with this growth period, to help us mature.”» — los *blue baldies* son nombre de Isabel para los grises, y su lectura de ellos como guardianes es de ella; el corchete es del autor.
«Jim Sparks (1996) sees the “galaxy” as a kind of “playground for business.” “Big busi ness on this planet sleeps with aliens,” he asserts.“Our destructive path is bad for business to carry on as usual.”» — la lectura económica del interés alienígena es de Sparks y contradice la ecológica; la obra la consigna sin conciliarla. La partición de *busi ness* es del reflujo.
«The beings, according to Sparks, are “serving themselves,” and the apparent concern for the planet reflects their effort “to take care of an investment”» — cierre de esa lectura interesada, siempre atribuida a Sparks.
«The mantindane, they don’t love us. They need us, have needed us, and will continue needing us until they develop better methods of self-preservation» — Credo Mutwa sobre el motivo de los mantindane: necesidad, no amor. Contradice la lectura protectora de otros informantes de la misma obra.
«It seems that when it comes to views about the aliens’ purposes in seeking to preserve life on this planet, the truth, as with so many aspects of the alien abduction phenomenon, seems to lie in the perception or consciousness of the beholder» — así consigna el desacuerdo entre sus informantes sobre el propósito de los seres, sin arbitrarlo.
«Sequoyah calls these changes a “cleansing” by Mother Earth to restore balance» — la limpieza planetaria es término de Sequoyah Trueblood.
«Although they may feel that this future is already determined, they may nevertheless, like biblical prophets, warn that we must change our destructive ways» — señala la contradicción interna del anuncio: destino fijado y a la vez exhortación a cambiar.
«Credo Mutwa, who told us of his visions of a dying world, believes “these creatures come from the future.» — la tesis de los seres como descendientes futuros es de Mutwa.
«She attributes her apocalyptic fears to the “awakening” that her encounters have brought about, especially the “energy, the vibration” that has come with them» — el miedo apocalíptico se lo explica ella misma por el despertar energético.
«They had to create an artificial environment” above because “the atmosphere became unbreathable and everything began to atrophy.» — el relato de la catástrofe ambiental de los propios seres, en boca de una experienciante.
«These apocalyptic visions, no matter how certain abductees may feel that they are literal predictions of what is to come, suggest as much as any aspect of the alien abduction phenomenon that we are dealing with some sort of play of consciousness or cosmic informational process rather than simply events in the material world» — la lectura del autor desplaza las visiones de la predicción literal al proceso informativo, y lo hace contra la certeza de sus propios informantes.
«I am not suggesting that these prophetic images are made up by the experiencers, merely fantasies that reflect their personal fears» — el deslinde inmediato: no las reduce a fantasía privada.
«On the contrary, what they are experiencing in these instances may be altogether real in the sense that it accurately reflects in vivid symbols the emergent situation that currently afflicts the Earth» — y su reformulación: reales como símbolo exacto de una situación real, no como pronóstico.
«In this regard some abductees seem to embody, like ancient biblical prophets, the archetype of world-ending destruction, except that in our present situation, the danger, as they accurately and viscerally experience, is upon us» — la homología con el profeta bíblico, con la diferencia que él marca: aquí el peligro ya está.
«Information conveyed through destructive images that may be of apocalyptic proportions is not the only way that abductees are confronted with the critical importance of the Earth and the danger now confronting its living systems» — la vía de la belleza como contrapeso de la vía catastrófica.
«Each scene started showing mankind’s destructive ways” and their impact on the environment» — la secuencia de escenas repetidas y degradadas, según el relato de Jim Sparks.
«There’s something very sacred here, very powerful here,” she felt, with special light and energy» — la percepción de lo sagrado en la zona amazónica es de Nona.
«Peixoto interpreted Nona’s experience as a message about the ecological danger threatening the rain forest» — la interpretación de la visión de una experienciante la hace un chamán, no el psiquiatra: la obra deja la adjudicación en manos de Peixoto.
«Although they may have had no special knowledge of indigenous traditions, abduction experiencers seem to be drawn inevitably to native American spirituality and Earth consciousness» — la afinidad con la espiritualidad indígena se enuncia con *seem* y sin suponer conocimiento previo.
«But now so many of them have lost this connection that was such a direct line to the Earth’s vibration» — sobre la pérdida de la conexión directa, en boca de una experienciante.
«I’m like a babbling brook crying,” she says, “about things happening in this city.» — la identificación con el sufrimiento del entorno, dicha por ella.
«The man told Carlos that he was the one who had grabbed his shoulder and spoken to him the night before and that he came from the craft Carlos had seen on the hill» — el encuentro del Ajusco, en el relato de Carlos Diaz.
«The man invited him into one of the spheres, which seemed, like the ship itself, to be made of compressed yellow light» — las esferas de luz amarilla comprimida, según Carlos Diaz.
«Sometimes when he is in the ship he has the desire to know what is outside, and then “all of a sudden the whole ship is my sight.”» — la nave como extensión de la vista es formulación de Carlos Diaz.
«Each living thing, Carlos said—plants, trees, and small animals— would be surrounded by its own characteristic “cloud of light,” like “its own aura.”» — la nube de luz de cada ser vivo es lo que Carlos Diaz dice ver.
«One effect of the encounters is to leave abductees with a sense of the interdependence of living things and the delicate balance of nature» — el efecto que el autor sí generaliza: una percepción de interdependencia.
«When asked by the beings if she “understood,” she realized that “everything’s connected, one cannot exist without the other”» — la comprensión de Catherine dentro del propio episodio.
«Isabel says, “Mother Earth to me is like a living organism.» — la Tierra como organismo, en boca de Isabel.
«Carlos has seen a “consciousness at work in all the biospheres, where the smallest beings to the biggest ones on the planet are interacting, doing a cooperative job to maintain the planet and also themselves alive.”» — la consciencia cooperativa de las biosferas es lo que Carlos Diaz dice haber visto.
«Each creature that has been created in the universe, he says, has “something that is worthwhile to preserve.”» — el corolario ético que Carlos Diaz saca de esa visión.
«The reality of extraterrestrial intelligences should not be made the plaything of skeptics» — es Credo Mutwa exhortando al autor por su nombre, no una tesis del libro: la frase cierra un pedido de que se lleve el saber recibido a quienes contaminan.
«But I believe that in order to love,” Carlos continues,» — arranque del argumento de Carlos Diaz: para amar hay que conocer primero; el resto cierra del otro lado del corte.
«Nona says that each of her experiences has “stretched” or “expanded” her» — el efecto de expansión, con los verbos entrecomillados porque son de ella.
«The awakening must happen now,” Karin says. “Time is running out.”» — la urgencia es de Karin.
«“I have to do something,” Sue said. “I knew it on a very deep level. . . . I had a choice, but I didn’t have a choice.”» — la obligación de actuar, formulada por Sue como paradoja de la elección.
«“I’m not the chosen one,” Carlos told us.“I am a messenger.”» — Carlos Diaz rechaza el papel de elegido y se queda con el de mensajero.
«In a “meeting” on the ship, the beings told Jim Sparks that they had made agreements with leaders of the Earth so that “steps would be taken to correct the environmental condition of your planet with our advice and technology,” but that these had been broken» — los acuerdos rotos con líderes humanos, según el relato de Jim Sparks.
«Only if they were granted complete amnesty for their crimes against nature, the beings told him, would “these leaders come forward with the truth,” and “it is necessary that you do this in order to work together and survive.» — la condición de amnistía, dentro del mismo relato.
«Sparks has done precisely that, including initiating an amnesty bill (which he calls the “National Security Amnesty Bill”) that would exempt from prosecution any official who chose to disclose government information concerning the alien abduction phenomenon» — la traducción legislativa del relato: el proyecto de ley existe y lleva ese nombre.
«He told us, for example, “We have scorpions here,” but he tells his children not to kill them» — el ejemplo doméstico con que Carlos Diaz educa a sus hijos.
«Some abduction investigators argue that the images that abductees receive about the destruction of the Earth are presented to them, not to change their awareness and impel action, but rather to test their reactions or to deceive them about the beings’ true, more sinister purposes» — consigna la lectura rival del campo: prueba o engaño en lugar de mensaje.
«I suspect this way of thinking reflects more the way our minds can work than the agenda of the alien beings» — y su respuesta, en verbo de sospechar, no de refutar.
«But when it comes to our responsibility for the fate of the Earth, the “method” seems to be to bring about psychospiritual growth or the expansion of awareness» — lo que propone en lugar de prueba o engaño: el crecimiento psicoespiritual como método, entrecomillando la palabra.
«Then he said that just this child’s message had made him consider saving the pond, and he promised to look into this possibility» — el efecto documentado de la carta de una niña sobre el funcionario Anthony Nigro: la cadena que va del relato a una decisión administrativa.
«In November 1998 the state agreed to fund the final proposal for protecting the pond» — y su desenlace fechado, que es de los pocos resultados verificables externamente que la obra aporta.
«I have come increasingly to see this hybrid “project” in the context of the growing ecological crisis that the human species has wrought upon the Earth» — el encuadre con que el autor liga el programa híbrido a la crisis ecológica, dicho como evolución de su propia lectura.
«Although I do not perceive the hybrid “project” as so literally biological as do these researchers, experiences related to some sort of human/alien sexual and reproductive connection are an important aspect of the phenomenon in many, though not all, cases in my work» — se deslinda de la lectura biológica literal de otros investigadores y a la vez sostiene la centralidad del material; el *though not all* es suyo.
«Budd Hopkins first brought to our attention the fact that at the center of the alien abduction phenomenon was some sort of vast “project” or “program,” seemingly initiated by the beings, to create a hybrid race that combines human and alien characteristics» — atribuye a Budd Hopkins la identificación del proyecto híbrido, con el *seemingly* puesto por el autor.
«Catherine believes the hybrids are being created “so that if humans did destroy the planet there would still be alternatives”» — la lectura del híbrido como alternativa de reserva es de Catherine.
«The hybrid program is thus, he says, “a secret club” or “insurance program,” a “backup plan.”» — los tres nombres son de Jim Sparks.
«In Andrea’s experience the aliens are “feverishly collecting the seeds of life,” and “the hybrids are here to populate the Earth as an insurance policy.”» — la póliza de seguro es formulación de Andrea.
«I am convinced that the reproductive narrative is powerfully real for the experiencers» — la afirmación que sí suscribe: la realidad del relato para quien lo vive, no la del hecho biológico.
«no Freudian or other individual psychodynamic explanation seems to account for its basic elements» — el balance negativo sobre la vía psicodinámica, tras miles de horas de trabajo clínico.
«A literalist interpretation could understandably give rise to a threatening scenario involving an agenda of alien colonization of the Earth for selfish purposes» — expone la consecuencia de la lectura literal, remitida a Jacobs 1998, que es la que él no adopta.
«An“interdimensional” view would be more complex and could include energetic, mythic, and metaphoric components with an emphasis on the understanding of human consciousness and spiritual evolution» — la lectura alternativa que propone, enunciada en potencial y sin descartar la otra.
«I have become persuaded that whether or not babies have literally been created, something of great power and intensity has occurred» — su fórmula de compromiso: sostiene la intensidad del suceso y deja abierta la creación literal.
«The concrete sparseness, consistency, and certainty of abductees’ descriptions of their reproductive experiences, their clarity of recall about the impregnation and gestation cycle, and their conviction about its actuality» — los rasgos por los que descarta la fantasía como explicación; la frase cierra del otro lado del corte de chunk.
«For many abductees the reproductive experiences, including unmistakable symptoms of pregnancy and subsequent loss, are so vivid and real that they use the language of genetic biology and speak of DNA alteration and genetic harvesting, although no studies of which I am aware document actual genetic changes» — recoge el vocabulario genético de los relatos y en la misma frase declara que ningún estudio lo respalda.
«Nor, for that matter, has research successfully documented the fact of sperm or egg harvesting, alien impregnation, or the existence of hybrids in the material world as we know it» — el balance probatorio completo, en negativo y por su propia mano.
«But to my knowledge no gynecologist has been able or willing to verify that the product of conception may have been taken by alien beings or even ended mysteriously» — el límite del testimonio médico, con el doble matiz de *able or willing*.
«Credo Mutwa believes the mantindane are “mining” or “harvesting” us» — la lectura extractiva del fenómeno es de Mutwa, y contrasta con la de preservación mutua que recogen otros.
«It may start, Karin said, with “a needle thing that goes way in you” when they take her “seed.”» — el procedimiento, en palabras de Karin.
«In the alien pregnancy “the body shifts chemically. It’s subtler. I don’t get morning sickness like I do with a normal pregnancy.”» — la diferencia fisiológica que ella declara respecto de un embarazo ordinario.
«The straightforward and highly detailed way abductees describe hybrids and their relationship to them is very convincing and leaves little doubt that these experiences, and the hybrids themselves, are in some sense real. But this does not mean that they are flesh-and-blood babies or children in a purely physical sense» — la fórmula exacta del autor: realidad en algún sentido, no criaturas de carne y hueso.
«I’d like to say I feel maternal instincts, but I don’t. . . . At first it’s almost repulsive» — la ambivalencia afectiva ante los híbridos, dicha por una experienciante contra lo que se esperaría de ella.
«They put the fetus into one of these tanks and attached “this thing over its head and it goes in its ears” because it cannot just “free float.”» — la incubación descrita por Karin.
«Needless to say, several aspects of the sexual/reproductive sequence can be intensely traumatic for the experiencers and fill them with resentment and sadness» — consigna el trauma y el resentimiento sin suavizarlos con la lectura de misión.
«Credo Mutwa confided, “I don’t know why the mantindane stole semen from me.» — el episodio afecta también a los informantes indígenas, y Mutwa lo cuenta sin explicación.
«Sustaining their race, or whatever it is,” is “okay with me,” she said, but she feels anger and hurt that the beings do not “share that with me.”» — Karin acepta el fin y se queja del procedimiento: consentimiento parcial, no adhesión.
«The acceptance that Nona, Karin, and other experiencers may come to feel derives from their sense that they are part of a life-sustaining mission, and they attribute what is happening to a higher purpose» — el autor explica la aceptación por la atribución de propósito, y marca que la atribución es de ellas.
«According to Karin, the hybrids have not “got the feeling part” yet, which would apply to the aliens as well» — la carencia emocional de los híbridos, según Karin, se extiende a los propios seres.
«But “they weren’t making it; they weren’t living” because their “kidneys were shutting down.”» — los fallos fisiológicos de los híbridos, en el relato de Andrea.
«Andrea has told me of a seven-year-old hybrid son of hers she calls Kiran, who is “different from the other babies» — el caso de Kiran, nombrado por ella; la frase sigue del otro lado del corte.
«Abductees are repeatedly informed that the hybrid project is related to the perilous state of the Earth’s ecology and is being conducted for the purpose of preserving both the human and alien species» — el motivo que los relatos atribuyen al programa: preservar a las dos especies.
«We may not survive and they may not survive, and it’s very important to perfect this species”» — en boca de Karin, que llama a ese proceso un ajuste fino; el término queda partido en dos líneas por el reflujo.
«She dismissed as a “misconception” the idea “that they want to take over the planet.» — la experienciante rechaza expresamente la lectura de invasión.
«A lot in this material could be used to support the idea that hybrid babies are being created materially and that they are now penetrating, or in the future will penetrate, our world on the physical plane in a kind of colonization process» — concede que su propio material admite la lectura de colonización antes de argumentar contra ella.
«But there are problems with an entirely literal physical interpretation» — y el giro con que la acota.
«At best what we have in the physical domain are small lesions (which skeptics say could be self-inflicted, but I have found no evidence for this) and bodily symptoms that might be manifestations of subtle forces, real energies originating on another plane of reality» — el balance físico completo, con la objeción escéptica citada dentro del paréntesis y respondida ahí mismo.
«In order for the hybrid “project” to succeed, she says, “our dimension” will have “to be penetrated by theirs.”» — la condición dimensional del programa, dicha por una experienciante.
«Dave spoke to me of sperm being taken from him, but he said that the significance was as much spiritual as physical, representing the future of two universes “intertwining with each other.”» — la lectura espiritual del procedimiento es de Dave.
«An alien pregnancy, she noted further, “never processes itself completely three-dimensionally.”» — la fórmula con que Karin explica por qué el embarazo no deja rastro médico.
«she does not believe it occurred in ordinary physical reality» — sobre la impregnación que relata Eva: la propia experienciante niega que fuera física.
«“Some kind of seed from them was left in me,” but “energetically, not physically. . . . I’m not going to be pregnant and have a baby now, a physical baby.”» — Eva distingue la semilla energética del embarazo físico, y lo hace ella, no el psiquiatra.
«The being or the energy adapted to my limitations and spoke my language» — Eva explica la forma humana del ser como adaptación a su propia limitación.
«During the process of writing this thesis, I came to understand that the sexual connotation of the experiences was only a metaphor used to enable me to understand certain intrinsic and subtle personal metamorphoses» — de la tesis de Eva: ella misma relee su episodio como metáfora de una transformación.
«In summary, that the human/alien sexual and reproductive process appears to result in the creation of a hybrid race that will someday come “down” to Earth is altogether real for the experiencers, who do not in other respects have aberrant ideas or suffer from some sort of emotional disturbance» — el resumen del capítulo 6: realidad para quien lo vive, y ausencia de patología, remitido a McLeod.
«The fundamental difficulty may be more one of philosophy, consciousness, and method» — dónde sitúa el obstáculo: no en la falta de pruebas sino en el marco con que se las busca.
«Rather, I would argue that the process might be occurring largely in another realm, one with a different vibrational frequency, a kind of in-between domain—neither pure formless spirit nor dense matter—which, under certain circumstances, can penetrate our world and be perceived with such vividness as to bring intense experiential conviction and even create subtle physical signs on the bodies of abductees» — su propuesta positiva sobre el estatuto del proyecto híbrido: un dominio intermedio que a veces penetra el nuestro y deja marcas leves.
«It is well known to abduction researchers that the humanoid beings reported may first present themselves to experiencers in the form of animals or in other disguises» — el dato de partida del capítulo 7, atribuido al campo y no a él.
«In sum, then, abductees are opened by their experiences to the deeper levels of the psyche and reality, of which their schooling in our culture has given them little knowledge» — el resumen del efecto: acceso a niveles que su formación cultural no les dio.
«The abduction experiences have brought her, as in a shaman’s journey, to “a raising of our frequency.”» — la elevación de frecuencia es fórmula de Nona; la comparación con el viaje chamánico la pone el autor.
«For Nona as in many cultures, the white horse seems to stand for fertility and strength, life and light. In this case it transports her and affirms her potential creative power» — la lectura simbólica del caballo blanco es del autor, con *seems*, sobre la visión de Nona.
«Sue suggested that the intense light that so regularly accompanies abduction experiences might serve to induce the altered state, much as shamans use drugs, music, rhythms, drumbeats, or even lights for the same purpose» — la homología entre la luz del encuentro y los inductores chamánicos la propone Sue, no el autor.
«But as in a native healer’s vision quest, through her abduction experiences she chose to confront her most intense fears and “demons.”» — la comparación con la búsqueda de visión, con el verbo *chose* que devuelve agencia a la experienciante.
«Although she does not deny the possibility that her body may be taken during her experiences, Sue prefers to think of them as “our way out” of the present impasse rather than as abductions» — Sue rechaza el propio nombre del fenómeno y propone otro; el autor conserva la disputa terminológica.
«Perhaps, Sue speculates, “these beings and these craft fall into what would be an acceptable [that is, perceivable] phenomenon.”» — la explicación de por qué el fenómeno toma forma tecnológica es de Sue; el corchete aclaratorio es del autor.
«She screamed for the beings to take the spider off and make it go away, but they kept insisting that it had a right to be there and would not hurt her» — el episodio de la araña, en el relato de Karin, con la negativa de los seres incluida.
«The spider told Sequoyah he was not walking gently enough on the Earth and to wear moccasins instead of shoes, for the reason his people wore them long ago was so they would walk more respectfully on the Earth» — la lección de la araña, en el relato de Sequoyah Trueblood, con su etiología del mocasín.
«It is possible, as some experiencers believe, that the form in which humanoid beings appear may depend as much on their own level of consciousness as on the initiatives of the various species “out there” or on alien “agendas” that are independent of the minds of the experiencers» — la hipótesis de que la forma depende del estado de quien la ve, adjudicada a los experienciantes y sostenida en potencial.
«But it is possible that each of us contains potentially within our being virtually all possible levels of consciousness» — el corolario que saca de esa hipótesis, también en potencial.
«Carol’s experiences demonstrate well Bernardo’s notion that the aliens assume at first a form or forms that are familiar or comprehensible within the individual’s own perceptual background or framework» — usa un caso occidental para ilustrar una tesis de Peixoto: la autoridad interpretativa queda del lado del chamán.
«These terror dreams, Carol said, really happened, but “they didn’t happen in this dimension.”» — la fórmula con que Carol sostiene a la vez la realidad y la no localización del suceso.
«If the being had not had such big black eyes, she might still think it was Jesus» — el detalle por el que Carol dejó de identificar la figura luminosa con Jesús.
«Carol took this to be Cernunnos, an ancient Celtic deity, half animal and half person, that presides over the animals of the forest» — la identificación con Cernunnos es de Carol; la obra la consigna como su lectura y luego la deja caer.
«Later we concluded that she had condensed the image of the being, who was the source of the owl-eyes, with the spiraling object in the sky, which seems to have had some of the characteristics of a UFO» — la interpretación se construye entre los dos en sesión, y el autor lo dice en plural.
«She felt that her belief system had been “used” to manipulate her into accepting, and even liking, an otherwise traumatic experience» — la denuncia de manipulación es de Carol y va contra la lectura benévola del propio libro.
«She continued to object to “the idea that someone would use your personal spiritual belief to deceive you,” and she did not want her understanding to be “usurped by something else pretending to be a spiritual being.”» — la objeción persiste sin resolverse: la obra la consigna como desacuerdo vivo de una informante con el marco del libro.
«may be from a different world,” she said, “but they’re just as much made of matter as we are.”» — Carol sostiene la materialidad de los seres, contra la lectura interdimensional del autor.
«Abduction experiences, she suggested, might provide a “portal” to “another material realm that coincides with ours” while at the same time having a powerful physical and spiritual impact» — el *portal* a otro plano material es propuesta de Carol.
«The aliens, Sparks suggests, “use symbols to establish a common ground of communication.”» — la función del símbolo como lengua común es lectura de Jim Sparks.
«Although Jim knew that drawing the symbol would cause the ant to be killed and thereby bring the end to his pain and discomfort, he refused to comply and shouted that they would never force him to kill anything» — la prueba moral del símbolo de muerte, en el relato de Jim Sparks, con su negativa.
«Although the beings would not explain directly what he had just witnessed, somehow Jim learned that the great bird was a phoenix, which symbolized “the species of aliens from all parts of the galaxy and perhaps other dimensions.”» — la identificación del fénix y su referente son de Jim Sparks.
«It stands, among other things, for destruction and perpetual renewal, for death and rebirth by fire, for gentleness (as it hurts nothing and feeds on no living thing), for gods related to the moon and the sun, for the transcendence of all duality» — aquí el aparato simbólico del fénix lo pone el autor, no el informante.
«In some instances he remembers that these passages were rebirth experiences that followed his death in a prior life» — el paso por los tubos como renacimiento tras una muerte anterior, en el recuerdo de Dave.
«In our session Dave likened passing through these tubes to a birth, especially as there was some sort of fluid inside of them» — la comparación con el canal de parto es de Dave, apoyada en un detalle sensorial.
«The report of this encounter of Dave’s contains several examples of the paradoxical phenomenon I have called reified metaphor» — aplica su propio término al relato de Dave: los túneles son a la vez cosa y símbolo.
«According to these shamans, beings of this sort have been around for thousands of years and seem to have a great interest in the fate of the Earth, functioning as its protectors or scavengers, depending on a particular shaman’s experience or point of view» — la doble lectura, protectores o carroñeros, la deja explícitamente en manos del chamán que hable: la obra no unifica la doctrina indígena.
«There seems to be some agreement among these leaders that humanoid beings are coming more frequently or insistently to the Earth now because, as Bernardo Peixoto says (see chapter 8), “We as human beings in this planet are destroying ourselves” and much of the Earth’s life» — el punto en que sí coinciden sus informantes, citado por boca de Peixoto.
«According to Bernardo, they possess a different energy and a higher standard of knowledge than the ancestor spirits and other beings with which he is familiar and with whom he has felt a degree of mastery» — la distinción entre los ikuyas y los espíritus ancestrales la hace Peixoto, y con ella pierde el dominio que tenía sobre estos últimos.
«His connection with them has brought him so far beyond his previous understanding that he has come to believe “that all I have learned, all the suffering moments of being a shaman—it was useless.”» — el efecto del encuentro sobre la propia autoridad chamánica de Peixoto, en sus palabras.
«The beings and their UFO-related “props” may seem almost to “possess” the experiencer, appearing to disguise themselves, as in Carol’s encounter, through inhabiting the familiar images of the experiencer’s knowledge base» — la hipótesis del disfraz cultural, en potencial y con las comillas puestas sobre los términos que no suscribe.
«As Dominique wrote in her notes at the time, “While popular Afro-Brazilian religions like Candomble and Umbanda prepare the ground, to some extent» — la observación sobre el Candomblé y la Umbanda es de Dominique Callimanopulos; la frase sigue con los ET vistos como distintos y de energía propia, y el reflujo parte una palabra.
«I was told that the subject is sacred and also that it is difficult enough to be a member of an Indian minority in our culture without being tagged with the opprobrium associated with belief in actual visitations of creatures from outer space» — las dos razones por las que sus informantes indígenas callan, una sagrada y otra social.
«It has been my impression that contact with extraterrestrial or interdimensional beings (native peoples seem to distinguish these from ancestor and other spirits) is frequent among shamans and other indigenous leaders, as if such contacts were part of their training or initiation» — la generalización va en *impresión* y el paréntesis conserva la distinción émica entre esos seres y los espíritus ancestrales.
«Sequoyah Trueblood told me that all of the more than a hundred medicine men and women and chiefs» — la cifra es de Trueblood; la frase cierra del otro lado del corte de plana diciendo que todos ellos tuvieron encuentros.
«I have been encouraging PEER to take on a more systematic study of the forms, frequency, and significance of “ET” contact among native Americans, with the thought that it might yield insights into our own cul ture and identity» — el programa de investigación que propone, y su motivo: entender la cultura propia; la partición de *cul ture* es del reflujo.
«He works at the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, teaching individuals and offering classes about South American native culture, especially about plants with healing powers» — la posición académica de Bernardo Peixoto, que sostiene su doble credencial.
«Peixoto is a bridging figure, bringing the knowledge of his people to the North American white culture, while trying to help pro tect and develop Brazilian indigenous societies that are being wiped out by the destruction of their native lands» — la categoría de figura puente, aplicada a Peixoto; la partición de *pro tect* es del reflujo.
«Bernardo says, such beings represent the Great Spirit taking a physical form, because that is the only way they have to understand such matters» — la explicación de la forma física es de Peixoto: no son otra cosa que el Gran Espíritu hecho perceptible.
«his mother said to Bernardo, “You have to learn the white man’s ways,” for that was the only way “to protect our brothers and sisters,” a task to which he has devoted his life» — el mandato materno que explica su formación occidental.
«Bernardo has told me, the invisible can become visible, and beings residing in the spirit realm can take physical form—indeed, they must do so to be perceived by humans» — la ontología de Peixoto: la manifestación material es condición de la percepción, no prueba de materialidad.
«But Bernardo distinguishes the ikuyas from grays. Like Credo, he sees the grays as troublemakers, less evolved than the ikuyas» — la distinción entre ikuyas y grises, que hace coincidir a Peixoto con Mutwa en un punto donde discrepan en otros.
«grays are the ones who have intercourse with women and create hybrids, and encounters with them can be very traumatic» — sigue la adjudicación de Peixoto: el programa híbrido sería obra de los grises, no de los ikuyas.
«Each culture, he said, has intermediaries and messengers between it and the divine energies» — la premisa con que Peixoto encuadra a los ikuyas dentro de un patrón universal.
«But beings descended from entities that are nowhere and everywhere is an altogether different matter» — y el punto en que los ikuyas rompen ese patrón: proceder de ningún lugar y de todas partes.
«They had always known about the ikuyas, for they had been taking care of the people for thousands of years» — lo que los ancianos de la tribu le dijeron a Peixoto tras el episodio.
«I don’t see any intercommunication between them,” he remarked during our long meeting» — Peixoto sobre sus dos identidades, chamán y antropólogo: declara que no se comunican entre sí.
«But this encounter with the ikuyas disrupted Bernardo’s worldview, frightened him, and brought him to the edge of the unknown» — el efecto sobre el propio chamán, y es el indicio de que el encuentro no cabía en su tradición.
«I don’t want people laughing at me,” Bernardo said» — el temor al ridículo, idéntico al que la obra atribuye a los experienciantes occidentales.
«Sometimes I think I am going crazy,” he told me» — y la duda sobre la propia cordura, dicha por un chamán en ejercicio.
«Bernardo faces an acute dilemma, for the process of political empowerment of native peoples, which may be essential for their survival, will itself create contacts with the outside world that undermines their cultures» — el dilema político de Peixoto, consignado sin salida.
«At the same time, however, he feared that this initial opening might lead to exposure to the media, to eco tourism, and to other forces of the outside world that might eventually destroy the integrity of the Krenacroro culture and exploit it» — el mismo dilema aplicado a los krenacroro; la partición de *eco tourism* es del reflujo.
«They thought the balls of light were Apus, forest spirits or deities» — la interpretación émica de las luces entre los krenacroro.
«As in the case of Yahweh in the Bible, he says, the energy of the Great Spirit is “too much for us to take,” so messengers, like angels, are sent to help us understand» — la analogía con Yahvé y los ángeles la hace Peixoto, no el autor.
«The ikuyas are coming now “because they are conscious that we as human beings in this planet are destroying ourselves, and they love us and wouldn’t see this happening.”» — el motivo de la venida, según Peixoto, es amor, no interés: lo contrario de lo que sostienen Mutwa y Sparks.
«Bernardo believes that the ikuyas are coming at this time because we are at the end of the sixth pachacuti (five-hundred-year intervals of prophecy, in which a number of indigenous peoples in South America believe) and are beginning the seventh» — el encuadre profético del *pachacuti*, con la glosa del ciclo puesta por el autor.
«It is a time “when the condor and the eagle are going to fly together.”» — la imagen del cóndor y el águila, en boca de Peixoto.
«Bernardo perceives that we in the West are becoming more open to gaining knowledge from “the other world.”» — el juicio sobre Occidente lo emite el informante indígena, invirtiendo la dirección habitual del diagnóstico.
«“So-called extraterrestrials,” Sequoyah says, are but “another face of spirit, just as are we sacred two» — para Trueblood no hay categoría aparte: los llamados extraterrestres son otra cara del espíritu; la frase cierra con los *two-leggeds*, partido por el reflujo.
«“I define spirit as the mind of God in motion here on Mother Earth,” he says» — la definición de espíritu es de Trueblood.
«Although the military officially denies that such drugs were used other than for legitimate medical purposes, they were apparently freely dispensed to enhance effectiveness, especially to enable the men to stay awake for several days at a time» — el dato sobre las anfetaminas militares, con la desmentida oficial consignada y el *apparently* del autor.
«After this, although he was involved in many intense combat actions, he never fired a weapon again and sometimes entered fire fights without a weapon, knowing he would not die and that “I was being watched over and taken care of.”» — el episodio que cambia su conducta en combate, con la certeza de protección en sus propias palabras.
«Although he believes he was set up and falsely accused of being an international drug dealer (details of the “sting” are provided in Perry 1986, pp. 11–12), in the end Sequoyah welcomed his imprisonment as an answer to his prayers, for “all I was was a junkie,” and now “I could finally get the drugs out of my life.”» — el encarcelamiento leído por él mismo como respuesta a una plegaria, con la referencia documental del caso.
«Unlike some native people I have met with, Sequoyah does not distinguish the beings who he says took him into a spacecraft from the guardian spirits that have guided and protected him all his life» — el autor marca que la distinción entre seres y espíritus guardianes no es universal entre sus informantes.
«The use of the word extraterrestrial by whites, Sequoyah believes, is just another expression of our separation from spirit» — Trueblood critica el propio vocabulario del libro que lo recoge.
«According to Sequoyah, we are all in a sense extraterrestrial, for star beings took part in the creation of the human species and have always been our teachers» — la antropogonía de Trueblood, atribuida a él.
«Spacecraft are a very rudimentary sort of travel. Sequoyah says the time will come when such vehicles will not be necessary and we will be able to“travel anywhere as spirits.”» — el viaje interestelar sustituido por desplazamiento espiritual, según Trueblood.
«“As a North American Indian, our legends and oral histories are replete with such occurrences,” he later wrote» — Trueblood inscribe su propio episodio en la tradición oral de su pueblo.
«The reason marriages did not work on Earth, he was told, was that there was too much effort to control and manipulate, but that here people just decided to spend their time together» — la enseñanza sobre el matrimonio recibida en el episodio extracorporal.
«The psychiatrist told him he was hallucinating, for “it just wasn’t possible from his point of view.”» — el diagnóstico ajeno, consignado con la razón que lo sostenía.
«Sequoyah told me that he has had hallucinatory experiences related to drugs, but they were different, more fragmented, and obviously related to toxicity or withdrawal» — la distinción entre alucinación tóxica y experiencia la hace el propio Trueblood, no el clínico.
«Ocumma and another medicine man, Walker Calhoun, became his primary mentors, and they and others taught him about the medicine wheel, healing circle, sweat lodge, other native ceremonies, and much more» — el linaje ceremonial de Trueblood, con sus dos maestros nombrados.
«Sequoyah came to know and participate in both Western and Eastern forms of therapy and spiritual practice» — la coexistencia de tradiciones en su formación, consignada sin jerarquía.
«For Sequoyah the contacts with his guardian spirits, including the one discrete abduction journey he has shared with me, are so much an integral part of his everyday life that their role in his personal development cannot be separated from all the other transformative influences of which he has spoken» — por qué en su caso el episodio no se puede aislar como suceso: está tejido con el resto de su vida.
«Time on the Earth is running out, he believes, and “if we don’t start changing a little faster, we’re not going to have a place to live here much longer.”» — la urgencia ecológica, en boca de Trueblood.
«Male energy, male aggression, is out of control, he says, and we must learn to “respect and honor the woman for her life-bringing,” and the gentle energy of the woman “which moderates male aggression.”» — el equilibrio entre energías masculina y femenina es doctrina de Trueblood.
«According to native history, Sequoyah says, pain and suffering “entered human consciousness when first man and first woman turned their back on the original teachings of the Creator.”» — la etiología del sufrimiento, atribuida por Trueblood a la historia nativa.
«Sequoyah himself is a bridge—between the red and white brothers, but also, like Bernardo and Credo, between the unseen world of spirit and the manifest world of matter» — el autor aplica a los tres informantes la misma categoría de figura puente.
«It was, according to legend, given to the people by White Buffalo Calf Woman, an important deity of the native traditions» — el origen de la pipa sagrada, consignado como leyenda.
«For him personally, Sequoyah has written, “The Sundance has proven to me the power of prayer; the Sundance has made me aware that I am a child of the Creator, that I am eternal spirit, that I am God’s mind in motion, that I am the spiritual representative of all who have gone before me, that I am Spirit made visible.”» — la declaración de identidad de Trueblood tras la danza del sol, escrita por él.
«They are just as much my family as my parents, my friends and my children.”» — Trueblood sobre los seres: parentesco, no otredad.
«Stephen Larsen has accurately compared him to what the Japanese call “a living treasure”» — la comparación es de Stephen Larsen (1996) y el autor la suscribe con un adverbio.
«He credits them with his own wide knowledge of art, language, medicine, science and engineering, subjects» — Mutwa atribuye a los mantindane su propio saber enciclopédico; la frase sigue del otro lado del corte de chunk.
«The Earth, he says, is a “womb world” in which new forms of life can develop» — el *womb world* es término de Mutwa.
«If we would realize that we are not alone, we would treat the Earth with respect, Credo believes, and would “open channels of communication with these intelligences.» — el argumento ecológico de Mutwa pasa por el reconocimiento de la no soledad cósmica.
«Credo was also on the program, broadcasting from a local affiliate in Mhabatu, near his village in Mafeking, in the “Home Territories” northwest of Johannesburg» — sitúa geográficamente a Mutwa, con la denominación administrativa del apartheid entrecomillada.
«He seemed altogether familiar with these matters, said that they had been known by Africans for thousands of years,» — la antigüedad del saber africano sobre estos seres, según Mutwa.
«Africans, Credo explained, are ordinarily reluctant to speak with some one» — la reticencia cultural a hablar con extraños, explicada por Mutwa; la partición de *some one* es del reflujo.
«It was clear that he had carried within himself for more than thirty-five years traumatic events that were still highly charged for him emotionally» — el juicio clínico del autor sobre Mutwa, que es de los pocos que emite sobre sus informantes indígenas.
«Through it all he has struggled to preserve the archives and artifacts of his culture that he has collected over a lifetime» — la pérdida y el rescate de los objetos sagrados como parte del relato.
«When I asked him four years later if there was anything he had told me along the way that he would prefer I not tell, he replied that to place restrictions of any sort upon me would be “like a cat urinating inside the temple of knowledge.”» — el consentimiento de Mutwa para publicar, formulado por él con esa imagen.
«They don’t realize that to conserve animals, you must preserve African culture» — el argumento de Mutwa contra el conservacionismo que ignora la cultura.
«Credo’s special value is no more appreciated by blacks attempting to reap the benefits of modern society than it was by racist whites, and he has felt himself the object of hatred by both groups who, he believes, see him as an obstacle to progress» — la persecución de Mutwa por los dos lados, después del apartheid tanto como antes.
«piece of land was bought for Credo by the generosity of friends in the Magliesburg Mountains, a sacred place of healing powers where humankind is said to have evolved» — el nuevo asentamiento de Mutwa, fechado en junio de 1997 y apoyado en Tintinger 1997.
«Perhaps the spiritual awakening that is beginning around the world, together with an increasing appreciation in the West of the vital importance of indigenous cultures for our own survival, may make the fulfillment of Credo’s vision more likely» — la esperanza del autor sobre el proyecto de Mutwa, en potencial.
«Through Gary (who had brought me to see Credo when we first met him) I also met and interviewed in 1995 another Zulu medicine man, Claude Inyanga, who told me about various beings known to African lore and experience but did not speak of the mantindane» — nota al pie: un segundo curandero zulú que habla de otros seres y calla sobre los mantindane. La ausencia se consigna.
«Claude laughed and said “we know the grays and keep them in the periphery of our vision. We all know of them. I have met many healers who acknowledge they exist» — la respuesta de Claude Inyanga: los grises se conocen y se mantienen al margen.
«But when you reach a certain level, you become guided by creatures that you accept as your ancestral spirits but that are really not your ancestral spirits.”» — Mutwa sobre lo que guía a los sangomas en los grados altos: no son los ancestros.
«Some of these entities that masquerade as ancestral spirits, he says, are “parasites from other dimensions” that victimize, manipulate, and control sangomas and can even “bring us to violent deaths.”» — la lectura parasitaria de Mutwa, aplicada a su propio oficio.
«Credo developed a feverish condition that caused such pain and debilitation that he almost died (Larsen 1996, pp. 2–4).» — el autor fecha a los veintidós años la enfermedad febril que estuvo a punto de matar a Mutwa, y la apoya en la biografía de Larsen 1996.
«Neither his father’s readings from the works of Mary Baker Eddy, which regarded such sickness as an illusion to be fought against, nor the medical treatments he received, helped.» — ni las lecturas de Mary Baker Eddy que hacía el padre —para quien la enfermedad era ilusión que se combate— ni el tratamiento médico sirvieron, dice el autor: las dos vías se consignan como fallidas.
«He began to recover when a loving Zulu aunt, who regarded his condition as a kind of spiritual crisis, used traditional African methods to treat his condition.» — la tía zulú leyó el cuadro como crisis espiritual y lo trató con métodos africanos tradicionales; ahí empieza la mejoría, según el autor.
«It turned out that this crisis was the beginning of Credo’s initiation and training as a sangoma, and as he recovered his remarkable powers as a healer began to be revealed» — el autor lee esa crisis como el inicio de la iniciación y el entrenamiento de Mutwa como *sangoma*: los poderes de curandero se revelan al recuperarse.
«These beings were friendly (“not like these monsters,” the mantindane).» — Mutwa separa a los seres que lo instruyeron de los mantindane, y el paréntesis con el término *monsters* es suyo.
«Credo believes that these beings also imparted a great deal of other knowledge to him.» — Mutwa atribuye a esos mismos seres el resto de su saber.
«When I asked him to describe how this learning came to him, he replied, “All of a sudden you feel . . . and then it’s there.» — Mutwa describe, a pregunta del autor, cómo le llegaba ese aprendizaje: sin proceso, de golpe.
«When Credo was stabbed during the Soweto riots, “I could feel the knives going into my body.» — Mutwa sobre las puñaladas de los disturbios de Soweto; el autor acota, entre paréntesis y en su calidad de psiquiatra, que Mutwa se ha vuelto experto en disociación.
«He says he was raped more than once as a young man and has been attacked by mobs during political riots.» — la violencia sufrida por Mutwa, referida por el autor: violación y ataques de turbas en disturbios políticos.
«The only time he really felt fear, Credo said, was when a mob was preparing to burn him alive by pouring gasoline on him.» — el único miedo real que Mutwa declara haber sentido.
«Africans believe that if you are burned to death, your soul is destroyed as well as your body, and that the soul will “go into the darkness” so that the person can never be reincarnated.» — la razón de ese miedo, formulada como creencia africana: morir quemado destruye también el alma y clausura la reencarnación.
«He saw then the tunnel, and the great place of light that has now become familiar in accounts of near» — Mutwa contó a Bradford Keeney que tras una lapidación en Soweto lo declararon clínicamente muerto; el autor empareja lo visto con la literatura de experiencias cercanas a la muerte, citando a Moody, Ring, Greyson y Flynn.
«For Credo this was the Great Spirit showing him its face.» — la lectura que Mutwa da a esa visión: el Gran Espíritu mostrándole su rostro.
«He is admittedly “sick and tired” of “feeding and leading people who hate you,” and just wants to be “an ordinary black man.”» — Mutwa sobre su propio hartazgo; el autor encuadra el tramo como el de un hombre amargado.
«He believes that a great intelligence, “something which covers several galaxies,” created the Earth, but he regards this intelligence as material or “machinelike” rather than as God, which means a “superhuman being.”» — la cosmogonía de Mutwa: una gran inteligencia que abarca varias galaxias creó la Tierra, pero él la califica de material o maquinal y no de Dios.
«According to African legend, it is this intelligence that has sent to Africa alone more than eight kinds of entities “to warn the people what to do and what not to do.”» — esa misma inteligencia, según la leyenda africana que refiere Mutwa, mandó a África sola más de ocho clases de entidades con función de advertencia.
«But we know nothing really, Credo believes, about God, the galaxy we are a part of, the world we live in, or even ourselves.» — el límite que Mutwa pone a todo lo anterior: no sabemos nada de Dios, de la galaxia, del mundo ni de nosotros mismos.
«Reincarnation, he says, is the most important “pillar of our religion,” and accordingly the mantindane may follow you not only in this lifetime but in many others as well.» — la reencarnación como pilar principal de su religión, y la consecuencia que Mutwa saca: los mantindane pueden seguirte por varias vidas.
«Love is a wonderful thing, Credo says, but it is shallow, fragile, easily shattered, and not permanent in the human heart: “Love may move certain things fast, but selfishness moves them even faster.”» — la antropología pesimista de Mutwa: el amor es frágil y el egoísmo mueve más rápido.
«According to Credo, his people regard the stars, “those little things up there,” with fear and awe.» — Mutwa sobre el lugar de las estrellas en su pueblo: más importantes que el sol y la luna, porque de ellas viene el conocimiento.
«The people of Botswana, for example, call a star naledi, which means “light of the spirit,” and have carved in wood, painted on rocks, or even scratched on metal “the so-called UFOs,” the “magical vehicles” in which the mantindane and the star gods of the various tribes traveled.» — el término de Botswana para estrella y los soportes en que ese pueblo grabó lo que Mutwa llama los así llamados ovnis.
«According to African lore, Credo says, “star people” have come from the heavens in “magic sky boats” for thousands of years, but this is not widely known because UFO groups do not speak to black people.» — la tradición africana de la gente de las estrellas y sus barcas mágicas, según Mutwa, y la razón que da para que no se sepa: los grupos ovni no hablan con los negros.
«The black man, he complains, is ignored and despised, “ostracized from sitting in important fields of science.”» — la queja de Mutwa sobre su exclusión racial de los campos importantes de la ciencia.
«Even the great Zulu warrior king Shaka was “kidnapped” by the mantindane.» — Mutwa incluye en la serie al rey guerrero zulú Shaka.
«Credo links the mantindane to the wandinja, the sky gods of the Australian aboriginals, which are depicted in cave drawings with startlingly large black eyes, and to ancient Sumerians, whose drawings showed bald heads and faces with unusually large eyes, small chins, and rudimentary noses.» — Mutwa enlaza a los mantindane con los wandinja de los aborígenes australianos y con los dibujos sumerios de cabezas calvas y ojos grandes; la analogía es suya.
«Credo believes that extraterrestrial beings have covertly influenced and “manipulated” all human cultures and civilizations profoundly for hundreds if not thousands of years, operating in the shadows.» — la tesis fuerte de Mutwa: influencia y manipulación encubiertas de todas las culturas humanas durante siglos.
«Warriors like the Masai go into battle wearing codpieces to protect their genitals from the mantindane who might otherwise drain their semen, and women wear certain ornaments to protect themselves from being sexually molested by them.» — las protecciones que Mutwa refiere contra los mantindane: coquillas en los guerreros masái y ornamentos en las mujeres.
«From the art and oral traditions of various African tribes and from his own experiences, Credo has concluded that some of these creatures, especially the mantindane, “share the Earth with us. They need us. They use us. They harvest things from us,” but he is not altogether sure why.» — la conclusión que Mutwa saca del arte y la tradición oral africanos más su propia experiencia, y el límite que deja abierto: no sabe del todo para qué.
«According to Credo, the mantindane have caused wars and other terrible cruelties and have “manufactured” diseases to destroy human beings or to test our resistance to various bacterial strains.» — el reverso dañino en boca de Mutwa: guerras, crueldades y enfermedades fabricadas para destruir o para probar la resistencia humana.
«But they have also had a positive influence and done helpful things.» — y el reverso del reverso, dicho por el autor en una sola línea: también hubo influencia positiva.
«They taught the Zulus how to drill through stone and the Egyptians to cut the great stone with which they made their pyramids.» — lo que Mutwa les atribuye del lado técnico: perforar la piedra entre los zulúes y cortar la de las pirámides entre los egipcios.
«he drew a picture of a mantindane for his mother, she cried and corrected the drawing slightly, for she had seen such a creature herself in 1918!» — cierre de la primera entrevista: la madre corrigió el dibujo del mantindane porque había visto uno en 1918. El dato es de Mutwa y el signo de admiración es del autor.
«Although Credo is frustrated that people in the West do not accept the reality of these beings and that they interfere with human destiny, he is quite astute about the reasons for this resistance.» — el autor consigna la frustración de Mutwa ante el rechazo occidental y, a la vez, le reconoce agudeza para explicar ese rechazo.
«“Human beings are subconsciously aware of the danger that we are all in,” he told us, but “many of them are refusing to accept this truth.”» — la explicación que da Mutwa: no es ignorancia, es negativa a aceptar un peligro que ya se percibe.
«“You will find many cultures afraid of talking to you about such things,” he said toward the end of our first meeting.» — Mutwa sobre el miedo de muchas culturas a hablar del asunto; el autor lo sitúa al final del primer encuentro.
«“Let me tell you, Dr. Mack,” Credo said in our next meeting, “that very often when you see these things, especially if you are an educated and Christian person, your mind rejects what you see.» — Mutwa dirigiéndose al autor por su nombre: la formación cristiana y letrada opera como filtro que rechaza lo visto.
«Your mind will not recognize what you see. I’ve seen it happen to thousands of black people and white people.”» — el remate de esa idea, con el alcance que Mutwa le da: lo ha visto ocurrir en miles de personas negras y blancas.
«Nevertheless, Credo insisted, “People should stop obscuring the facts. These are real beings. They should be communicated with.”» — y contra ese filtro, la exhortación de Mutwa: son seres reales y hay que comunicarse con ellos.
«For the people of Africa,” he told Stephen Larsen, “the skies are full of life, yes, even the origin of life can be attributed to the stars”» — Mutwa a Stephen Larsen: para los pueblos de África los cielos están llenos de vida y hasta el origen de la vida puede atribuirse a las estrellas.
«Before they knew of airplanes, he said, African tribespeople called UFOs “swings,” as the nearest thing they knew to something a human being could fly in was a swing suspended from the branch of a tree.» — el término con que los pueblos africanos nombraban a los ovnis antes de conocer el avión, según Mutwa: lo más cercano que tenían a algo en que un humano volara era un columpio colgado de una rama.
«People’s lives, Credo said, have been “changed by entities that were not of this world.”» — Mutwa sobre el efecto biográfico de esos encuentros.
«These creatures, he has said, watch over us with curiosity, “actually regulating human progress for some reason known only to themselves”» — la función que Mutwa atribuye a esas criaturas —regular el progreso humano— con el límite que él mismo pone: por razones que solo ellas conocen. La cita viene de Larsen 1996.
«All over South Africa,” he said, “you find stories of these extraterrestrial visitors”» — Mutwa a Larsen sobre la extensión del relato en Sudáfrica.
«The creatures, each of which he named, included tall blond beings that were knowledge givers; hairy creatures (“the puhwana”) that give children scratches that never become septic; an entity with a very large head, unnaturally pink skin, and a long male organ; and creatures that wore a helmet and armor to protect them in this world.» — el catálogo de ocho o diez clases de criaturas estelares que Mutwa nombró una por una: rubios altos dadores de conocimiento, los puhwana peludos, un ser de cabeza muy grande y piel rosa, y otros con casco y armadura.
«Credo recalls that his mother used to urinate into a clay chamberpot and wash her children’s scratches from the puhwana with her urine to exorcise the spirit of this creature.» — el remedio doméstico contra los rasguños del puhwana, recordado por Mutwa: la orina de la madre en una bacinica de barro, para exorcizar al espíritu.
«In “olden days,” Credo told us, his people accepted these creatures and did not regard them as outside “the miracle of this Earth.”» — Mutwa fecha en los tiempos antiguos la aceptación de esas criaturas dentro del milagro de la Tierra, no fuera de él.
«The most feared, and apparently the most important for Africans, are the mantindane, or “sky monkeys,” which, as we have seen (chapter 6), are thought to be able to impregnate women.» — la jerarquía del miedo, dicha por Mutwa: los mantindane o monos del cielo son los más temidos, y se les atribuye poder preñar mujeres. El reenvío al capítulo 6 lo hace el autor.
«Credo told Stephen Larsen that women throughout Africa over several centuries have told of being “fertilized by strange creatures from som» — Mutwa a Larsen: mujeres de toda África llevan siglos contando haber sido fertilizadas por criaturas extrañas.
«The mantindane, he says, inflict pain, “torture us like the African secret police,” and smell hideously.» — la comparación con que Mutwa describe el trato de los mantindane, y que remite a la policía secreta africana.
«When people are captured by the mantindane, he said, it is thought to be because they have done some thing wrong,» — la lectura popular africana que Mutwa refiere: a quien se llevan es porque hizo algo malo.
«Nevertheless, the mantindane, Credo told us with some irony, are thought of by some Africans as gods who honor people by taking “things” from them “to places that we don’t know.”» — y el reverso honorífico de esa misma lectura, que Mutwa transmite con ironía declarada por el autor.
«Injuries from these encounters, according to Credo, are called “god injuries.”» — el nombre local de las lesiones que dejan esos encuentros, según Mutwa.
«“Gods,” he declares, “wouldn’t stick things into people and injure and traumatize them.» — y el rechazo de Mutwa a esa teología en sus momentos de enojo: unos dioses no clavarían cosas en la gente.
«Credo himself has had many sightings of UFOs and says that over Mafeking they are seen every month by hundreds of people.» — la frecuencia de avistamientos que Mutwa declara sobre Mafeking.
«He scoffs at the American air force’s stories of weather balloons.» — el desdén de Mutwa por la explicación de la fuerza aérea estadounidense.
«A weather balloon doesn’t have portholes that are visible through a powerful pair of binoculars,”» — su argumento contra el globo sonda, con el detalle óptico que lo sostiene.
«He holds extraterrestrial beings responsible for ruining his love affairs, spoiling his marriages, and damaging his penis.» — el saldo personal que Mutwa cobra a esos seres: amoríos arruinados, matrimonios estropeados y daño en el pene.
«One creature, which he calls the “string skirt sister” because it wears a skirt made of strings, has been with him since he was a baby.» — el ser que Mutwa dice tener consigo desde bebé y al que nombra por su falda de cuerdas.
«In the Catholic world in which he was brought up, such beings were either angels or demons, “so I naturally believed that this creature was my guardian angel.”» — la primera adjudicación que Mutwa hizo de ese ser, y de dónde le venía el repertorio: en su mundo católico solo había ángeles o demonios.
«This being, he told us, has reddish skin, intense eyebrows, and unnaturally widened eyes and speaks through a hole in its throat.» — la descripción física del ser, en boca de Mutwa: piel rojiza, cejas intensas, ojos ensanchados y habla por un agujero en la garganta.
«This same being also haunted his aunt Mina, who said to Credo, “This is no devil,” and told him that hundreds of sangomas and healers in Zululand were “bothered and controlled by this creature.”» — la tía Mina desmiente el marco demoníaco y amplía el alcance: cientos de sangomas y curanderos de Zululandia molestados y controlados por la misma criatura.
«Typically, Credo said, when a sangoma has terrible dreams and becomes “sick with the healer’s illness,” the string skirt sister will lead the sufferer underground, where he will see “all kinds of amazing and fearful things.”» — el papel que Mutwa asigna a ese ser en la enfermedad del curandero: conduce bajo tierra al que sufre.
«She has also given him knowledge, most of which has been useless to him, but it includes the capacity to foretell the future accurately.» — lo que Mutwa dice haber recibido de ella, con la reserva incluida: casi todo inútil, salvo predecir el futuro con acierto.
«It is this being, Credo said with some bitterness, that caused him to end his dreams of being a schoolteacher and to concentrate on preserving his people’s culture.» — y el costo, dicho por Mutwa con amargura que el autor consigna: dejar el proyecto de ser maestro de escuela para dedicarse a preservar la cultura de su pueblo.
«If he does not obey her, he said, “she screams and cries night after night after night.”» — lo que ocurre, según Mutwa, cuando desobedece.
«being is “more me than I am me,” Credo declared.» — la fórmula con que Mutwa cierra el asunto de ese ser.
«In Song of the Stars Credo describes an important UFO encounter that occurred when he was about thirty (Larsen 1996, pp. 134–5).» — el autor remite el episodio al libro de Mutwa recogido por Larsen y lo fecha hacia los treinta años.
«He was called to a large village in Botswana where a “falling star” had been seen.» — la llamada a una aldea de Botsuana donde se había visto una estrella caída.
«The trees and brush had been burned, as if by a fire, and Credo and others who came with him saw a round object the size of a large truck floating in the air.» — lo que Mutwa y sus acompañantes vieron: árboles y maleza quemados y un objeto redondo del tamaño de un camión grande flotando.
«Two creatures, jumping and running rather like children and wearing dark garments, got into the craft, and it “just took off and disappeared.”» — las dos criaturas que abordaron el objeto, descritas por Mutwa como saltando y corriendo a la manera de niños.
«This description is similar to the one given to us by the children at the Ariel School.» — el autor empareja esa descripción con la que le dieron los niños de la Ariel School.
«The creatures left behind some “white rubbish” that crumbled “like bone turning into ash.”» — el residuo que quedó en el sitio, descrito por Mutwa.
«According to African tradition, Credo said, such material should not be touched because it can cause burning and blistering of the hands, hair to fall out, and even eventual death.» — la prohibición tradicional de tocar ese material y los daños que le atribuye, según Mutwa.
«The most important encounter with humanoid beings that Credo has experienced occurred in 1958, when he was still learning to be a sangoma.» — el autor fecha en 1958, durante el aprendizaje de sangoma, el encuentro que considera principal.
«The incident occurred in the sacred Inyangani Mountains in Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe), where he was working with a traditional healer, a Mrs. Zamoya, digging for special herbs that are used to treat backache.» — el escenario del episodio: los montes sagrados Inyangani, en la Rodesia que hoy es Zimbabue, mientras trabajaba con la curandera Mrs. Zamoya.
«He talked about the incident to me in great detail and with an intense combination of emotions, which included shame, anger, and a kind of awe.» — la mezcla de vergüenza, enojo y asombro con que Mutwa se lo contó al autor.
«Now it was an ordinary day, sir.» — Mutwa abre su relato del episodio de 1958 marcando la normalidad del día.
«all of a sudden I was aware of this strange silence that had fallen around. The silence lasted only a few moments, then all around me there was a blue smoke that obscured the landscape.» — el arranque que Mutwa describe: un silencio breve y después un humo azul que borró el paisaje.
«One minute I was standing there looking stupid and feeling even stupider when I was suddenly in a place, a place made of iron.» — la transición, sin tránsito, a un lugar de hierro.
«Credo found he had no clothes on, and his body now was on a table that seemed to fit his contours.» — el autor resume lo que sigue: desnudo sobre una mesa que se amoldaba a su contorno.
«Several times he spoke to us of a horrible smell, variously described as “like an electrical smell mixed with a chemical of some kind,” a “stink of copper,” and “rotten fish.”» — el olor, que Mutwa repitió varias veces con tres descripciones distintas.
«He was terrified, was “urinating like nobody’s business,” and struggled to get off the table.» — el terror y el forcejeo, en las palabras de Mutwa que el autor entrecomilla.
«movement of his eyes, he was completely paralyzed. Credo’s asthmatic condition made it especially difficult to breathe.» — la parálisis, con la complicación que el autor añade desde la historia clínica: el asma de Mutwa.
«Around him were six or more small doll-like beings, about three feet tall, with huge black eyes (“like nothing on Earth”).» — los seres alrededor, según Mutwa: seis o más, de unos noventa centímetros, con ojos negros enormes que él dice no parecerse a nada terrestre. El reenvío al capítulo 13 lo hace el autor.
«They had very small jaws, and their faces were like white clay with a pinkish tinge.» — el detalle facial: mandíbulas muy pequeñas y caras de arcilla blanca con tinte rosado.
«The skin of their bodies seemed to be shiny, as if covered with oil, or “the texture and feel of a little reptile.” For noses the beings had only small nostril holes, and the mouths were like a razor cut with no lips.» — la piel aceitada o de reptil pequeño y la boca sin labios, en la descripción de Mutwa.
«They were all wearing a seamless “grayish-silver, shiny, crackly uniform” and a round cap that, he said, made them look like Japanese soldiers in the Second World War.» — el uniforme sin costuras y la gorra redonda que a Mutwa le recordaron a soldados japoneses de la Segunda Guerra.
«The beings “staggered about as if they were powered by batteries” or “like chickens with broken legs.”» — el andar de los seres, con las dos comparaciones que puso Mutwa.
«The place was illuminated with a strange light that did not seem to Credo to be electrical.» — la iluminación del lugar, que a Mutwa no le pareció eléctrica.
«A slightly bigger creature with a wrinkled face and wearing a kind of brown overall, whom Credo sensed was a female, seemed to be in charge and stood very close to his head.» — la criatura mayor de cara arrugada y overol café que, según el sentir de Mutwa, mandaba.
«She had no breasts and only the slightest swell of hips, and the others seemed to be afraid of her.» — lo que a Mutwa le indicó su rango: sin pechos ni caderas, y las demás le temían.
«Credo tried to scream, but the “brown lady” put her hand over his mouth and patted it.» — el gesto de esa figura cuando Mutwa quiso gritar.
«One of them stabbed some sort of pipe into his thigh, and something was stuck in his nose that seemed to cause a kind of explosion in his head.» — los dos procedimientos que Mutwa refiere: un tubo en el muslo y algo en la nariz que le estalló en la cabeza.
«Credo compared the pain and fear to rape experiences he had undergone, but this, he said, was much worse.» — la comparación que hace Mutwa con las violaciones que sufrió, y su jerarquía: esto fue mucho peor.
«Normally, he said, he is able to dissociate when he is so frightened, to split his consciousness from his body.» — el recurso habitual de Mutwa ante el miedo extremo, que el autor nombra como disociación.
«But on that table that thing never happened. It seems there was a big witchcraft on me, a terrible witchcraft.» — y su fracaso esa vez, explicado por Mutwa como una brujería grande sobre él.
«As Credo was lying on the table in pain, a quite human-looking white woman who was wearing no clothes came up to him. But her limbs were too short for her body, her skin seemed polished, and “she looked more like a doll than these creatures looked like dolls.” This creature looked and felt to him “utterly unnatural.”» — la mujer blanca desnuda que se le acercó, con los rasgos por los que Mutwa la juzgó no humana.
«She touched his face and aroused him with her hand. Then she climbed over him “like a crazy Zulu girl.”» — lo que ella hizo, en las palabras de Mutwa.
«But it was not, Credo said, like making love to a real woman, for then “you feel the beat of her veins and arteries.» — y el contraste con que él lo mide: no era como hacer el amor con una mujer real.
«The most frightening part of all was that the creature seemed to attach something to his penis that caused him to ejaculate “too much.”» — lo que a Mutwa le pareció lo más aterrador del episodio.
«His penis “was burning as if I had put it in scalding water.”» — la secuela inmediata, dicha por Mutwa.
«A big round bottle without a neck and filled with a pinkish liquid was suspended somehow from a wall, and inside of it was a creature, swimming like a frog, that Credo felt certain was an unborn human baby.» — lo que Mutwa dice haber visto en la pared antes de salir, y de lo que se declara seguro: un bebé humano por nacer.
«He recalled that he had also seen other human beings being “tortured by other mantindane, exactly as I was.”» — y su recuerdo de no haber sido el único: otros humanos torturados igual por otros mantindane.
«In the next moment, Credo found himself once again in the bush, and “through a great dullness of the brain,” he gradually became aware of things that were wrong.» — el regreso, sin tránsito y con la mente embotada.
«His trousers and shirt were torn, and his mining boots (with heavy nails “good for kicking crocodiles if a crocodile catches you by the neck”) were gone. His body was covered with gray dust, and he smelled “awful, like in that stinking place.”» — el inventario del daño al volver: ropa rasgada, botas mineras perdidas, polvo gris y el mismo olor.
«He was shocked when he was told that he had been missing for three days.» — lo que Mutwa supo al llegar a la aldea, y que el autor consigna como sorpresa suya.
«He continued to feel pain in his thigh, nose, and “man thing,” lost strength, and fell down.» — los síntomas que siguieron, con el término propio de Mutwa para el órgano.
«She told him that he had been “caught by the God of the mountains.”» — el diagnóstico que le dio Mrs. Zamoya.
«He showed me a nearly half-inch scoop mark in his thigh, which he attributed to this experience.» — la marca en el muslo que Mutwa le mostró al autor y adjudicó al episodio.
«For similar scars, see Hopkins 1987, photos 7–9, between pp. 170 and 171.» — el autor remite las cicatrices comparables a las fotografías de Hopkins 1987.
«Credo stayed in the village for several days to recover and was bathed every day.» — los días de recuperación y los baños diarios en la aldea.
«Villagers found his boots in the bush, but curiously they were still laced, “as if somebody or something had pulled me out of my boots without unlacing them.”» — el detalle de las botas, que Mutwa subraya por lo que implica.
«He felt deathly ill, and in a state that he describes as “very close to madness,” he was taken by Mrs. Zamoya to her “Solace Mission” in western Rhodesia, where it took him several months to recover.» — el traslado a la Solace Mission de Mrs. Zamoya, en la Rodesia occidental, y los meses que tardó en reponerse; el estado propio lo describe él como muy cerca de la locura.
«Most horrifying of all to him, skin started to peel off his penis, which developed sores and became “an ugly pink.”» — la secuela genital que Mutwa califica de lo más horroroso.
«Traces of this condition remained, which Credo says is why his first wife left him.» — y la consecuencia doméstica que él le atribuye.
«Mrs. Zamoya took Credo to speak with several other people who had had similar experiences and injuries.» — la curandera lo puso a hablar con otros que habían pasado por lo mismo.
«In Francistown an old man told him that what had happened to him was very common in that region, but that one should talk about it only to others who had had a similar “God injury.”» — lo que un anciano de Francistown le dijo: el caso es común en la región y solo se habla con quien tuvo una lesión divina igual.
«But he had never stolen from anyone, lied to his mother, or done anything he could recall that might make the gods angry.» — la explicación por transgresión que le ofrecieron, y la respuesta de Mutwa: no encontraba ninguna falta suya.
«Another explanation offered for his illness was that he might have eaten the sacred flesh of a sky monkey, which was said to cause violent symptoms.» — la segunda explicación local: haber comido la carne sagrada de un mono del cielo.
«But Credo said that he knew of people who had never eaten “mantindane flesh” but had had “more horrific experiences”» — y el contraejemplo con que Mutwa la descarta.
«In the end he is left without any convincing explanation for his encounters with the mantindane.» — el saldo del capítulo, dicho por el autor: Mutwa se queda sin explicación convincente.
«The people who assaulted him, Credo told us, had wanted to cut off two of his fingers so that as an artist he would not be able to paint again.» — lo que Mutwa dice que buscaba la turba de 1976: cortarle dos dedos para que el artista no pudiera volver a pintar.
«He had been given emergency treatment by a Dr. Goldberg in Soweto, who told him that he had almost lost the hand and was concerned that the wound might kill him of “blood poisoning.”» — el pronóstico médico de la urgencia en Soweto, atribuido al doctor Goldberg.
«Credo was taken by friends to a farm in Natal province to recover and also to avoid professional killers, who, he says, were sent to look for him in his home or the hospital “to really finish me off.”» — el traslado a una granja de Natal, y la razón que da Mutwa: evitar a los asesinos profesionales.
«At night when Credo was beginning to recover from these terrible injuries, he smelled the same horrible smell as he had during the 1958 incident.» — la señal con que Mutwa reconoció el segundo episodio: el mismo olor de 1958.
«Although the door to his hut was locked, he saw a single mantindane standing by his bed, “the same little bloody bastard [still female] in the brown suit.”» — lo que vio junto a su cama con la puerta cerrada, y su identificación de la misma figura del overol café.
«She moved “like floating on water” or “like a ballerina, very slowly.”» — el modo de moverse de esa figura, con las dos comparaciones de Mutwa.
«Then the being touched the plaster cast that was on Credo’s hand, took the blanket off his body, “and started looking at my man thing again.”» — lo que la criatura hizo primero, según Mutwa.
«He wanted to shout angrily, “You’re wasting your time, you little bitch,” but his lips were numb.» — lo que él quiso gritarle y no pudo.
«Then suddenly, in what seemed to Credo like a cruel, brutal action, the creature ripped the bandage off his badly wounded right hand, causing blood to come from it.» — la acción que a Mutwa le pareció cruel y brutal.
«She seemed frightened in a human sort of way, as if she were afraid of contacting the blood directly.» — la reacción de la criatura ante la sangre, leída por el autor como un miedo de tipo humano.
«Then she went right through the mud wall of the hut, taking with her the bandage, which, Credo says, was found, still bloody and full of medicine, some distance from the hut.» — la salida a través del muro de barro y el destino de la venda, que según Mutwa apareció después lejos de la choza.
«But after the mantindane ripped off the bandage, the hand healed in two days, and he never had to put it on again.» — el desenlace clínico que Mutwa refiere: la mano sanó en dos días.
«we had not expected this thing. I was utterly amazed.» — la reacción del propio Mutwa y su esposa ante esa curación.
«In summary, although he continues to feel rage, shame, and the residua of his traumatization by the mantindane, Credo’s attitude toward them remains ambivalent and contradictory.» — el autor resume la actitud de Mutwa hacia los mantindane como ambivalente y contradictoria, con la rabia y la vergüenza todavía presentes.
«“Once a mantindane has dealt with you,” he says, “you become afraid of making love to a woman.» — el daño duradero que Mutwa describe en la vida sexual.
«These beings scar you for the rest of your life.» — y su formulación general de esa secuela.
«Yet not without some sympathy, he observes that “these creatures are moved by a desperate need.”» — el otro lado, con la simpatía que el autor le reconoce: una necesidad desesperada mueve a esas criaturas.
«White people in South Africa call these beings “aliens,” Credo said.» — la diferencia de vocabulario que Mutwa marca frente a los blancos sudafricanos: para él no son ajenos, son parte de nosotros.
«“These beings are not cold,” he concluded in our first meeting, “it’s only that they’ve got feelings that we don’t even imagine.”» — y su corrección sobre la frialdad atribuida a esos seres.
«Credo’s dark interpretation of the mantindane, however valid, seems to relate to his worldview, which has become more negative even in the short time I have known him, as his sicknesses and persecutions have increased under black rule.» — el autor liga la lectura sombría de Mutwa a su cosmovisión, y la ve endurecerse con el aumento de enfermedades y persecuciones bajo el gobierno negro. La reserva —however valid— la deja explícita.
«“These creatures want sick, impotent, debilitated, asthmatic, diabetic things like me to change the course of human history,” he says bitterly.» — la queja amarga de Mutwa sobre quiénes son elegidos para cambiar la historia humana.
«The mantindane are “solvers of great problems,” he concedes, “in whatever bloody world they live in.”» — lo que Mutwa concede a los mantindane, con la restricción incluida: en el mundo que sea que habiten.
«Their technology may be “several million years ahead of us.”» — y la ventaja técnica que les atribuye.
«He urges Americans to stop arguing about whether these phenomena are real (see page 104) and enjoins us all to “swim against the tide of anger and the waves of ignorance” and bring the knowledge of Africa back to white people in the West.» — la exhortación de Mutwa a los estadounidenses: dejar de discutir si esto es real y llevar el saber de África a los blancos de Occidente.
«“Why aren’t scientists testing these things,” he asks, “instead of saying it’s all nonsense?» — y la pregunta con que remata, sobre los científicos y el diagnóstico de locura.
«Credo, like other indigenous people with whom I have discussed these matters, does not sharply distinguish material or literal reality from mythic truths.» — el autor consigna que Mutwa, como otros indígenas con quienes ha hablado, no separa tajantemente la realidad material de la verdad mítica.
«This has made it particularly difficult for me to sort out what he may have actually experienced and what is part of African legend.» — la dificultad que eso le crea al autor, declarada como límite de su propio trabajo.
«His 1958 abduction experience, for example, has many elements that are familiar to us from» — lo que sí le resulta reconocible del relato de 1958, según el autor: elementos familiares en los estudios estadounidenses.
«But when he speaks of Africans becoming poisoned by eating the flesh of the mantindane, or the “string shirt sister” who takes people underground, we are on unfamiliar ground.» — y dónde deja de serlo, según el autor. La fuente escribe aquí *string shirt sister*, donde en la p. 221 escribió *string skirt sister*.
«Certain ideas of his, like the dominant role of the mantindane and other extraterrestrial or star beings in human cultural history, seem related to tribal myth and legend.» — el autor adjudica a mito y leyenda tribal el papel rector que Mutwa da a los mantindane en la historia cultural humana.
«At a personal level, Credo is a superb storyteller, and his accounts may contain exaggerations and hyperbole.» — la reserva del autor sobre su informante, dicha sin rodeos.
«In addition Credo’s familiarity with Western culture and ufology, and perhaps his wish, consciously or unconsciously, to provide me with information that he would know I would appreciate, may have led him to include elements from this knowledge in his account.» — la segunda reserva, que es la del investigador que se sabe parte del dato: Mutwa conoce la ufología occidental y pudo querer darle al autor lo que sabía que él apreciaría.
«In trying to differentiate his actually remembered experiences from these possible embellishments or distortions, I have tended to rely on the powerful emotions of shame, embarrassment, and anger that seemed altogether authentic, appropriate to what he was telling me, and similar to what experiencers in Western societies have demonstrated.» — el criterio con que el autor dice separar recuerdo de adorno: las emociones de vergüenza y enojo, no el contenido.
«When I asked Credo why he thought there had been such resistance in the West to acknowledging the existence of these beings, he replied, “Dr. Mack, I’m going to be very brutal in answering this question.» — el anuncio con que Mutwa contesta a la pregunta del autor por la resistencia occidental.
«The entire Western civilization is based upon a blatant lie, the lie that we human beings are the cocks of the walk in this world, the lie that we human beings are the highest evolved forms in this world, that we are alone and that beyond us there is nothing.”» — y la respuesta: la civilización occidental descansa en la mentira de que el humano es lo más alto y está solo.
«He spoke too of the dictatorial religious falsehood that there can be no other godlike beings but the God of the Bible.» — la segunda mentira que Mutwa denuncia, esta vez religiosa.
«Like Sequoyah, he experiences a cosmos that contains “many, many great beings, some of which we don’t even remotely dream about.”» — el cosmos poblado que Mutwa dice experimentar; el emparejamiento con Trueblood lo hace el autor.
«Credo speculated that if we were to announce to the world that “the aliens are here,” people would look behind governmental facades of power and challenge “the corruption, the governmental lies,” and the “rotten industrial systems.”» — la consecuencia política que Mutwa especula si se anunciara la presencia de esos seres.
«In spite of his negative view of the dangerous nature and intent of the mantindane, Credo says that he would “gladly welcome a mantindane government over us.» — la propuesta que Mutwa hace pese a su lectura sombría.
«In fact, I personally believe it would be the best thing that ever happened to the human race.”» — y hasta dónde la lleva.
«Such a government would “really bring us to our senses. That government would show us what real oppression is.”» — la razón que da para eso: un gobierno así enseñaría lo que es la opresión de verdad.
«For the human race, he continued, is “shamefully disunited, and not capable of bringing our collective energy to bear upon the serious problems that we face.”» — el diagnóstico de Mutwa sobre la especie.
«If we had a “common enemy, a common source of fear,” he suggests, then we would unite.» — y el mecanismo que propone: un enemigo común y un miedo común unirían a la humanidad.
«Although there are obvious differences, especially in the way various cultures interpret the experiences, some of the features of these shamans’ encounters are familiar to students of the abduction phenomenon in the West.» — lo que el autor dice haber sacado del trabajo con Peixoto, Trueblood, Mutwa y otros indígenas: que el fenómeno no es solo una historia estadounidense u occidental.
«Credo’s abduction in particular contains most of the familiar or “classic” traumatic, intrusive, and sexual elements.» — el autor sitúa el relato de Mutwa como el que reúne casi todos los elementos clásicos: traumáticos, intrusivos y sexuales.
«Credo’s most fully reported abduction, for example, was nasty and hurtful, while Sequoyah’s, for the most part, was enlightening and inspiring, directed by the spirit guides who have always been with him.» — el contraste que el autor marca entre el relato de Mutwa y el de Trueblood.
«These differences are consistent with the contrasting worldviews of the two men— Sequoyah accepting all experience as welcome teachings of the creator; Credo more bitter about his fate, the beings’ purposes, and the works of God.» — y a qué lo atribuye: a las cosmovisiones contrarias de los dos hombres.
«But there are also important features that the experiences of the three men have in common.» — pero también consigna lo común a los tres.
«None of them has a basic ontological problem with the encounters—they are consistent with their respective worldviews.» — lo común, primero, en negativo: ninguno tiene problema ontológico con el encuentro.
«As Sequoyah said, the “extraterrestrials” are just “another face of spirit.”» — la fórmula de Trueblood con que el autor cierra ese punto.
«Each is a teacher in both worlds. The encounters have deeply affected each of them, although in different ways.» — el papel que el autor asigna a los tres: puentes entre cultura indígena y blanca, y maestros en los dos mundos.
«The encounters have deeply affected each of them, although in different ways.» — y la salvedad con que lo dice: el efecto sobre cada uno fue distinto.
«Bernardo was shaken to learn of beings who may be related to the beginnings of his people but whose place of origin cannot be located in space and time.» — lo que sacudió a Peixoto, según el autor: seres quizá ligados al origen de su pueblo pero cuyo lugar de procedencia no se ubica en espacio ni tiempo.
«Credo has been physically and emotionally wounded by his encounters but attributes knowledge and healing power to the mantindane.» — el saldo de Mutwa, en la misma serie: herido en cuerpo y ánimo, y aun así atribuyendo conocimiento y poder curativo a los mantindane.
«The most important lesson for me and for our society, I think, lies in the fact that these men corroborate the reality of the abduction phenomenon.» — la lección que el autor dice sacar para sí y para su sociedad: a su juicio los tres respaldan la realidad del fenómeno.
«Bernardo, Sequoyah, and Credo are all eager to tell me their stories, partly so that they may understand and integrate their own experiences, but also that I may bring this knowledge to my culture, which is so skeptical of any thing that cannot be proven in material terms.» — por qué se lo cuentan, según el autor: para entender lo propio y para que él lleve ese saber a una cultura escéptica de todo lo que no se prueba en términos materiales.
«Credo in particular is eager for me to bring the mantindane’s warnings about the perilous state of the Earth to my society.» — el encargo específico de Mutwa: llevar sus advertencias sobre el estado de la Tierra.
«He wants the subject studied and urges scientists and others to stop arguing about whether this phenomenon—which, he says, is so well known in Africa—is or is not real.» — y su urgencia: dejar de discutir si el fenómeno es real, porque el tiempo es corto.
«These shamans see the pain and suffering of their crises, initiations, and other life experiences as essential dimensions of learning and growth.» — lo que el autor atribuye a los chamanes sobre el dolor: dimensión esencial del aprendizaje, no obstáculo.
«Western society, however, tends to see pain and suffering mainly as obstacles to be removed on the way to well-being.» — y el contraste con la sociedad occidental, que lo trata como estorbo en el camino al bienestar.
«I have found the shamanic perspective helpful in working with abductees in our culture.» — el uso que el autor dice darle a esa perspectiva chamánica en su trabajo clínico.
«As artist and student of shamanism Andrea Pritchard wrote to me, “This difference is one reason why the abductees feel more comfortable in the presence of a shaman than in the presence of most therapists. In shamanism everyone’s path is unique” (personal communication, January 14, 1999).» — la razón que Andrea Pritchard —artista y estudiosa del chamanismo, en comunicación personal de enero de 1999— da para que los experienciantes se sientan más cómodos con un chamán que con un terapeuta: en el chamanismo el camino de cada quien es único.
«When you’re afraid here, your adrenaline is pumped up. You become very sharp, very clear. You hear very well . . . it’s like you become this super person in the few minutes that you’re at that point» — epígrafe del capítulo 11, de Isabel en marzo de 1997: el miedo como estado de agudeza, no de merma.
«Investigators of the alien abduction phenomenon understandably place a great deal of emphasis on its traumatic aspects.» — el autor concede el énfasis que la investigación pone en lo traumático.
«Invasive or intrusive procedures, together with apparent bodily symptoms and signs such as nosebleeds, waking with blood in the ear, vaginal or penile pain, cuts and other lesions, and possible small implants seem to combine to form a syndrome that resembles rape or other familiar physical traumata (Herman 1997).» — el catálogo de lo intrusivo y sus signos corporales, que el autor dice formar un síndrome parecido a la violación, remitiendo a Herman 1997.
«Although these elements are often found in abduction cases, I do not believe that they can be discussed apart from the experiencer’s response to the encounters or their and our interpretation of their nature and significance.» — la primera objeción del autor a ese encuadre: esos elementos no se discuten aparte de la respuesta del experienciante.
«fear and pain related to the physical dimensions, however real, is not a central aspect of the phenomenon or even the most important part of the trauma.» — y la segunda, apoyada en más de nueve años de trabajo: el miedo y el dolor físicos, por reales que sean, no son el centro del fenómeno ni lo más grave del trauma.
«Rather, the world or mind-shattering impact of the experiences, bringing about a state of what I have called “ontological shock,” seems to come closer to the core of its power.» — lo que el autor propone en su lugar, y que nombra como choque ontológico.
«I will examine the features of the abduction experiences that seem to distinguish them from more familiar physical and emotional traumata.» — lo que el capítulo anuncia examinar.
«I will try to show how and why these disturbing elements seem to carry with them» — y hacia dónde dice llevarlo: mostrar por qué esos elementos perturbadores traen consigo la posibilidad de transformación y crecimiento espiritual.
«I do not mean to underemphasize the intensity of the terror that abductees experience when they recall that they have been rendered helpless and paralyzed by strange beings, taken to an unfamiliar place against their wills (“without permission”), and subjected to a variety of invasive procedures, conducted—or so it would appear at first—without consideration of their feelings.» — el autor aclara que no está minimizando el terror, y enumera lo que lo produce: parálisis, traslado sin permiso, procedimientos invasivos aparentemente indiferentes a los sentimientos.
«The intensity of the vibratory energy to which they appear to be subjected (see chapter 4) may itself seem nearly overwhelming, not to mention the probing of the body by odd instruments and the sometimes painful manipulation of the genital organs.» — la energía vibratoria misma como factor abrumador, además del sondeo del cuerpo y la manipulación dolorosa de los genitales.
«The terror and rage associated with these violations and loss of control is more or less familiar to anyone who has worked in depth with this population.» — el autor sitúa ese terror y esa rabia como algo conocido por cualquiera que haya trabajado a fondo con esta población.
«The apparent deception by the aliens, and what the abductees may see as the manipulation of their minds so that the beings can more easily fulfill their own agendas, can add to the fear and loathing that the experiencers often express.» — lo que agrava el cuadro, según el autor: el engaño aparente y la manipulación de la mente que los experienciantes perciben.
«When one adds to this the isolation that abductees feel because, at least until recently, they could not share their stories without fear of ridicule, social ostracism, or even incarceration, the fact that they cannot predict when the experiences may recur, and their helplessness to protect loved ones from abduction encounters, it is not surprising that they undergo a high level of distress that is in many ways not unlike what occurs in any sort of human trauma.» — y el aislamiento social —ridículo, ostracismo, incluso internamiento— que hace del cuadro algo no muy distinto de cualquier trauma humano.
«although abductees may have trouble finding just the right words to express this dimension of their encounters, they seem to agree that beyond the physical trauma, it is the impact of the experiences on their psyches and worldviews that is most profoundly disturbing.» — pero el propio grupo coincide, según el autor, en que lo más perturbador es el impacto sobre la psique y la cosmovisión.
«Nevertheless, although abductees may have trouble finding just the right words to express this dimension of their encounters, they seem to agree that beyond the physical trauma, it is the impact of the experiences on their psyches and worldviews that is most profoundly disturbing.» — la formulación de eso: quedan cuestionando todo lo que habían aprendido a creer sobre sí mismos y sobre la realidad.
«As Abby put it after a long session in which she had con fronted what was for her the inescapable fact of one of her encounters, it was completely “life shattering” (shattering or shattered are the words most consistently used to describe the impact of the experiences on the sense of reality).» — la palabra de Abby después de una sesión larga; el autor anota que las voces *shattering* y *shattered* son las que más se repiten para nombrar ese efecto.
«Greg’s experiences destroyed the “imprisoning and limited” structure of his egoistic beliefs—the idea, for example, that “humans are the most evolved thing in the universe.”» — lo que se derrumbó en el caso de Greg, en sus propios términos: la estructura carcelaria de sus creencias egoicas, empezando por la de que el humano es lo más evolucionado del universo.
«Whitley Strieber told me that his first encounters were “terror absolute” and an “annihilating catastrophe of spirit.”» — Whitley Strieber al autor sobre sus primeros encuentros.
«He spoke of “this enormity of soul that’s connected with those eyes. It seems to be just obliterating when you connect.”» — y lo que Strieber liga a esos ojos.
«encounters were “a rape of your consciousness and your soul,” a violation “coming without your permission.”» — cómo lo nombra Greg.
«Carol said that “the invasive, intrusive part, the physical part—that doesn’t bother me as much as the spiritual part.”» — la jerarquía que pone Carol: lo invasivo físico le pesa menos que lo espiritual.
«she objected particularly “to the use of your own personal beliefs to mask something that they are doing,” and she likens this to “mind rape.”» — la objeción específica de Carol —el uso de sus propias creencias para encubrir lo que hacen— y el nombre que le da.
«Some abductees feel that certain beings seem to want to take their souls from them.» — el autor recoge, sin suscribirla, la lectura de algunos experienciantes sobre el propósito de ciertos seres.
«Greg told me that the terror of his encounters with certain reptilian beings was so intense that he feared being separated from his soul.» — el miedo de Greg ante los seres reptilianos.
«If I were separated from my soul,” he said, “I would not have any sense of being.» — y lo que para él implicaría esa separación.
«Similarly, Karin, in our first meeting, spoke of the terror of being separated from her body.» — el terror equivalente en Karin, según el autor.
«She described “the sensation of being pulled from my chest,” of “being ripped out of myself—I cannot describe to you the scream, my own scream, being ripped away out of my body.”» — lo que Karin señala como lo más traumático hasta ahí.
«She recalled vividly waking up once in the middle of the night to find “one of the creatures right next to my bed, and another one bending over me trying to bring up as much fear in me” as possible.» — el episodio nocturno que Isabel recuerda, con dos criaturas y una empeñada, según ella, en producirle todo el miedo posible.
«I knew instinctively that whatever that thing was that was next to me wanted to enter me. It was just waiting to enter me.”» — lo que Isabel dice haber sabido por instinto.
«She felt certain that what these beings were after is “the human soul.”» — lo que Isabel sostiene que buscan esos seres, y la hipótesis que ella misma añade: que no tienen alma.
«But “they can’t just take our souls,” she said, “because they cannot come into this world physically.» — el límite que Isabel pone a esa amenaza: no pueden tomar el alma, la persona tiene que entregarla.
«they cannot come into this world physically. But they can fool you into handing it over.”» — y el mecanismo que ella describe para conseguirlo: engañar.
«The real me, my spirit or my soul, was inside my body and held everything valuable to me, my loved ones, everything. But as long as I remained in my body, they couldn’t just come into it. So it was almost like trying to scare me out of my body.”» — la topografía que Isabel usa: alma dentro del cuerpo, cuerpo como cerradura, y el susto como palanca para sacarla.
«At one time these beings were physical like us,” she said, and so their ultimate desire was to possess a body again.» — el motivo que Isabel les atribuye, y la historia que supone para ellos.
«The soul, as she spoke of it, seemed to be a kind of doorway to the body, for “if you hand over your soul, that leaves your body totally empty,” and through that vessel (body) the beings can enter this world.» — el autor resume la doctrina de Isabel: el alma como puerta y el cuerpo como vasija por la que esos seres entrarían a este mundo.
«For many experiencers the terror they undergo is linked ultimately to the shattering of their beliefs about the nature of reality.» — el autor generaliza: para muchos experienciantes el terror está ligado al derrumbe de sus creencias sobre la realidad.
«Greg came to realize, even as a child, that no matter what he might believe, “no matter how good I am,”» — lo que Greg dice haber entendido de niño.
«those beliefs would offer him no protection from energies that might “crush” him.» — y contra qué no lo protegían esas creencias.
«The result of these experiences, he said, was to “make the world, the universe, the self, bigger.”» — el saldo que Greg le encuentra: agrandar el mundo, el universo y el yo.
«Carol too felt that the beings “intentionally rearrange your belief patterns.”» — lo mismo en Carol, con intención adjudicada a los seres.
«For Bernardo a dramatic encounter shattered some of his beliefs as a shaman and opened his consciousness to an experience of the infinite (see chapter 8).» — y en Peixoto, según el autor: un encuentro le rompió creencias de chamán y le abrió la consciencia a lo infinito.
«But it is Jim Sparks who has captured for me most clearly the way in which an experiencer’s terror is connected with the shattering of a worldview.» — el autor señala a Jim Sparks como quien mejor le formuló el enlace entre terror y derrumbe de la cosmovisión.
«I admit the first five, six years [of his awareness of the experiences] was a culture shock to me, a traumatic culture shock of what the world or the universe, at least in my perception, is about, which is nothing like I would have imagined.» — Sparks sobre sus primeros cinco o seis años, que nombra como choque cultural traumático.
«“I admit the first five, six years [of his awareness of the experiences] was a culture shock to me, a traumatic culture shock of what the world or the universe, at least in my perception, is about, which is nothing like I would have imagined.”» — y lo que vino después del trauma, en sus términos: la confusión sobre quién es uno en el universo.
«It was “an absolute shock,” he said, until he came to realize that “it’s man who puts a limit on what God did and didn’t create, and what He does outside this planet.» — la salida teológica de Sparks: es el hombre, no Dios, quien pone límite a lo creado.
«So who’s to say what God has done out there? That doesn’t mean this goes against God.» — y su remate, que no lo pone contra Dios sino contra el inventario que se le atribuye.
«In the end, as we shall examine in more detail later, abductees may come to terms with the ontological shock brought about by their experiences.» — el autor anticipa que ese choque ontológico llega a asimilarse.
«Greg has come to see the shattering of the psyche as part of a process of trying to make sense of something utterly unknown.» — cómo lo asimila Greg: el resquebrajamiento de la psique como parte del intento de dar sentido a algo desconocido.
«Psychological “rape,” he says, can be a kind of “translation” or “misinter pretation” of experiences that run so counter to accepted reality.» — su hipótesis de que la violación psicológica sea traducción o mala interpretación de lo que contradice la realidad aceptada.
«“The pain and shattering of the psyche,” he says, may occur because “the numinous is coming closer.”» — y la causa que propone para ese dolor: que lo numinoso se acerca.
«Isabel says simply that “dealing with these aliens shatter[s] all those fake beliefs and shows you that there’s more.”» — la versión breve de Isabel.
«Even Carol could come to terms with the trauma of her contacts, at least in part, by comparing them to the way we treat animals and by finding comfort in the idea that she was in some way contributing to life (see chapter 6).» — el autor consigna cómo Carol se reconcilió en parte con lo suyo: comparándolo con el trato que damos a los animales y con la idea de estar contribuyendo a la vida.
«I don’t like what they’re doing,” she said, but “in some ways I probably benefit from it.» — la formulación de Carol, con su reserva: no le gusta lo que hacen y aun así cree beneficiarse.
«Why does God let us experiment on monkeys? . . . I’ve taken a small child to the doctor when they didn’t understand what was happening to them, and when they had to be injected with something or examined. The terror of my children when I have to drag them to the doctor—does that make the doctor bad?”» — la analogía con que Carol contesta la pregunta por la permisión divina: el médico que inyecta a un niño aterrado no es malo por eso.
«Although abduction experiences can be intensely traumatic, at least initially, many abductees are not likely to think of themselves as victims if they are given the opportunity to face the fears and come to terms with the power and meaning of what they feel has happened to them.» — la condición que el autor pone para que un experienciante no se piense víctima: que tenga ocasión de encarar el miedo y de asimilar el sentido de lo vivido.
«As Whitley Strieber told me, “acknowledging the fear is what gives you freedom.» — la fórmula de Whitley Strieber al autor.
«It’s like you become this super person in the few minutes that you’re at that point.» — lo que el autor dice que puede ocurrir cuando el experienciante entra a fondo en su terror y su dolor: un proceso de transformación de gran fuerza emocional y espiritual.
«During one of her experiences, Sue demanded of one of the beings that he turn and look at her.» — lo que Sue exigió a uno de los seres durante una experiencia.
«After he did, she was then able to say to herself, “I’ve seen your face and I’m not afraid of you anymore.”» — y lo que pudo decirse después.
«Karin has been “terrified by something so profound and so beyond my ability to describe or relate to,” but she has chosen to “interact with this experience and learn from it.”» — Karin reconoce el terror ante algo que dice no poder describir, y aun así elige interactuar y aprender.
«After working with us for two years, she said, “I’m willing to walk through terror, to go through moments of not knowing, to find out what the ultimate knowing is.» — su disposición tras dos años de trabajo.
«I’m willing to walk through terror, to go through moments of not knowing, to find out what the ultimate knowing is.» — y hasta dónde la lleva, con la aceptación explícita de equivocarse en la mayor parte.
«The aliens,” she said, “take you right to the limit and then push you over.”» — Isabel sobre el método que atribuye a esos seres.
«When you’re afraid here [in the encounters], your adrenaline is pumped up.» — la fisiología del miedo tal como Isabel la describe, y la conclusión que saca: la emoción extrema abre puertas espirituales.
«Isabel distinguishes both the intensity and quality of the terror that has accompanied her encounters from the fear that is caused by other human beings.» — el autor consigna que Isabel separa este terror del que causa un ser humano, en intensidad y en calidad.
«Several years after she began to confront her fear, Julie observed that “everything that they’ve pushed me toward has been toward overcoming a major fear, and once I got past it, it seemed like it was nothing.”» — lo que Julie observó años después de empezar a encarar su miedo.
«The thing that fries us,” Nona said, “is the resistance. We have to not resist.» — Nona sobre lo que a su juicio hace el daño.
«Greg’s struggles with his terror, and the beings that seemed to give rise to them, have taken on epic proportions, cast as a battle of darkness and light.» — el autor describe las luchas de Greg como una batalla épica de oscuridad y luz.
«I have a fascination with the darkness,” he said, “but I think the fascination with the darkness is just to see the light in it all.”» — y la razón que Greg da para su fascinación con lo oscuro.
«it seems at times as if he, like the biblical Jacob, has been wrestling with the demons of his own nature and for the survival of his manhood.» — la comparación bíblica es del autor: Greg luchando como Jacob con los demonios de su propia naturaleza.
«In his early teens, he remembers seeing “little people” that were altogether real to him walking in and out of his room through the walls.» — lo que Greg recuerda de su adolescencia temprana.
«He remembers that he would scream out in his fear, but he succeeded only in frightening his father, who threatened to beat him to get him to be quiet.» — y a quién asustaba en realidad con sus gritos.
«As an adult, Greg struggled for many years with reptilian-appearing beings who came in spaceships.» — el adversario que Greg dice haber tenido de adulto durante años.
«These beings terrified him, yet he felt drawn to them, possibly because they represented “the darkest, most ugly part of myself.» — la atracción que sentía hacia ellos, y lo que Greg supone que representaban.
«I don’t want to push it away because when I push it away, I push away a part of myself and I can’t be whole.» — y lo que se propone hacer con esa parte, hasta el punto de no poder ser entero si la rechaza.
«These struggles seemed to Greg to constitute a kind of “parallel life.”» — el nombre que Greg da al conjunto de esas luchas.
«They would do this by invading his soul and “sucking the life energy out of me, out of my soul.”» — lo que Greg dice que buscaban esos seres reptilianos: invadir su alma y succionarle la energía vital.
«cer tain that his life had a purpose and that he must “deal with this darkness” and not “suffer at the expense of it.”» — su resistencia, y en qué la fundó: la certeza de que su vida tiene un propósito y de que le toca lidiar con esa oscuridad sin sufrir a costa de ella.
«But through this struggle Greg dis covered that “the light is much stronger,” and the battle was actually empowering and even “enlightening.”» — lo que Greg dice haber descubierto en esa lucha.
«Of the reptilians he said that, although “I don’t love what they do to me, I do care for them.”» — la compasión que Greg declara, con la distinción explícita entre lo que hacen y lo que son.
«By saying to these beings, “‘You may not do this to me,’” Greg found that he was himself, though vulnerable, “powerful and very loving and very strong.”» — y lo que la lucha le devolvió sobre sí mismo, incluida su vulnerabilidad.
«In the end, he said, it was consciousness itself that he loved most, and he saw in it “the luminous underneath the darkness.”» — lo que Greg dice amar por encima de todo, y lo que ve debajo de la oscuridad.
«Philosopher Michael Washburn makes a similar point. As the ego lets go of the resistance to its awareness of a deeper reality, what he calls “the Power of the Ground,” something that was experienced as “an injurious invasion by an alien force” begins to be experienced as a “rejuvenating infusion of spiritual power” (Washburn, 1995, p. 210).» — nota al pie del autor: el filósofo Michael Washburn describe el mismo tránsito —de invasión hiriente a infusión rejuvenecedora de poder espiritual— cuando el yo suelta la resistencia a lo que él llama el poder del fondo.
«are enabled to confront their fears, they discover that the character of their experiences often changes, and they may undergo profound personal growth.» — el autor propone que al encarar el miedo cambia el carácter mismo de las experiencias.
«At the core of the transformational process is an expansion of their loving capacities, which paradoxically includes the emergence of a profound emotional connection between the experiencers and the beings themselves, even, as we saw in Greg’s case, beings of the darkest sort.» — lo que el autor pone en el centro de ese proceso, con la paradoja incluida: un vínculo afectivo hondo con los propios seres, aun con los más oscuros.
«As he overcame his terror, Whitley Strieber felt “a very deep heart opening,” and “an incredible, powerful love for people” emerged.» — lo que Strieber dice haber sentido al vencer su terror.
«Similarly, Greg felt he had moved into “another paradigm where you grow through real love and real understanding.” But despite his full engagement in his struggles with the reptilian beings, he questioned whether such pain was essential for growth.» — el paradigma nuevo que Greg describe y, en la misma línea, su duda sobre si ese dolor era necesario para crecer.
«But it is Isabel who has expressed most clearly the power of love to counter the dark or frightening aspects of the alien beings, including those of the reptilian sort.» — el autor señala a Isabel como quien mejor formuló el poder del amor frente a lo oscuro de esos seres.
«When the beings seem to threaten her, she sends out to them “as much love as I can, waves» — lo que Isabel dice hacer cuando la amenazan.
«by imagining a protective light around the boy’s body.» — su respuesta a las imágenes de su segundo hijo mutilado; el autor consigna entre paréntesis que el primero había muerto el año anterior en un accidente.
«It seemed that as she sent positive love energy toward these angry beings, she could hear them shrieking and saw them running, then backing off through the wall.» — el efecto que Isabel describe sobre esos seres, con el verbo de percepción que el autor conserva.
«Then she saw beings that were gray and reptilian, followed by one of the blue beings she calls the “blue baldies.” She sent a “last burst of love energy, calling on Jesus and feeling good inside toward” this being. It seemed to make “a weird sound” and went down as if it were in pain, “like the Wizard of Oz being stripped.”» — el desenlace del episodio, con la invocación a Jesús y la comparación con el mago de Oz desenmascarado, ambas de Isabel.
«After this encounter Isabel was no longer afraid of the beings.» — el saldo del episodio, según el autor.
«Every time she felt their presence, she would say, “ ‘Hey, if you want all the love you can take, come on,’” which “has given me back such a power.”» — lo que Isabel dice decirles desde entonces, y lo que eso le devolvió.
«the real power, “the most powerful thing in the whole universe.» — su conclusión sobre el amor, llevada hasta la cosmogonía.
«The further we get from that love, she suggests, the “more control” the beings have over us, the more “alien” they remain.» — y el corolario que Isabel saca: mientras más lejos de ese amor, más control tienen y más ajenos permanecen.
«that connects my soul to the main, major Source where all this love comes» — la imagen con que Isabel nombra el amor; el cierre de la frase queda del otro lado del corte de plana.
«The Source is “like my Father, or my parent. It’s where I came from. It’s what I am. . . . The soul eventually goes back to love, because soul came from love.”» — cómo describe Isabel la Fuente, y el circuito que cierra: el alma vuelve al amor porque de ahí vino.
«However traumatic the abduction experiences may be, at least initially, virtually all the experiencers with whom I have worked find in them a spiritual power or the potential for personal transformation.» — el autor declara que prácticamente todos sus experienciantes encuentran en lo vivido un poder espiritual o un potencial de transformación.
«Although I do not believe that I lead or otherwise try to influence the people who seek me out, I cannot deny that this group is self-selected and may at some level of consciousness associate me with at least an openness to a spiritual point of view.» — y su propia reserva metodológica: aunque dice no inducirlos, el grupo se autoselecciona y quizá lo asocie con una apertura a lo espiritual.
«Furthermore, whether this spiritual element, which has been noted by other investigators (Lewels 1997; Downing 1993), derives simply from a kind of stretching of the psychic sinews that can occur with any sort of trauma and recovery process, or is a more specific dimension of this phenomenon, is one of the more hotly debated questions in this field.» — el autor deja abierta la pregunta —que consigna como muy disputada en el campo— sobre si ese componente espiritual es propio del fenómeno o solo el estiramiento psíquico de cualquier trauma, citando a Lewels 1997 y Downing 1993.
«What seems clear is that the human support available to the experiencer, the degree of acceptance by people close to them, and the availability of a facilitator to “hold” the powerful energies associated with the encounters are all important in determining how the experiences are integrated—that is, whether they will lead to personal growth or result in a stuck “victim” position, or even cause emotional scarring.» — lo que el autor sí da por claro: el apoyo humano, la aceptación de los cercanos y un facilitador que contenga esas energías deciden si hay crecimiento o posición de víctima.
«Sometimes the issue becomes confused with the question of whether the aliens themselves are spiritual.» — el autor marca dónde se enreda la discusión.
«who is and who is not a spiritual being is one of the more troublesome and perhaps pointless questions that confront explorers of matters like these, since it is we who determine what to call “spiritual.”» — y por qué la considera acaso ociosa: somos nosotros los que decidimos a qué llamar espiritual.
«More important is whether the abduction process brings about genuine growth, or might even be “intended” or “designed” to do so by whatever intelligence is at its source.» — lo que al autor le parece más importante, con las comillas de cautela que él mismo pone a intención y diseño.
«Greg, for example, distinguishes between the trauma itself and the spiritual growth that may derive from his experiences.» — el autor consigna que Greg separa el trauma del crecimiento espiritual que pueda venir de él.
«He has said that “many alien events are a raping of your consciousness, and I don’t think God manipulates us that way or would rape us that way.”» — la formulación de Greg, que le retira a Dios ese método.
«A higher intelligence, he insists, “would find another way to do it. . . . It’s not a spiritual experience. A spiritual experience is uplifting. . . . It can, however, get some peo ple into spirituality.”» — y su conclusión, con la concesión final: no es una experiencia espiritual, aunque puede meter a alguien en la espiritualidad.
«But some of the examples that follow suggest to me that these are not, in fact, traumas like other traumata» — el autor anuncia que los ejemplos siguientes le sugieren lo contrario.
«appears to be intrinsic to the phenomenon rather than a secondary reaction that is part of the recovery process.» — y dónde lo sitúa: el elemento transformador como propio del fenómeno, no reacción secundaria de la recuperación.
«Isabel, for example, says, “I always knew that what I was dealing with was on a spiritual level.”» — Isabel sobre el nivel en que dice haber ubicado siempre lo suyo.
«The experiences of everyday life in this society, she observes, are more traumatic than her encounters.» — la comparación que hace Isabel entre la vida diaria de esta sociedad y sus encuentros.
«The idea that life is limited to just “physical or material things” is “much more traumatic,” she noted, and “takes a real bad toll on people emotionally, mentally,” so that “they end up in the nut farm or taking all kinds of heinous drugs.”» — y la razón que da: reducir la vida a lo físico o material cobra un precio emocional que ella describe sin eufemismo.
«In contrast to Greg, Isabel believes that her fearful experiences were more effective in “prompting” her to grow and that she would have resisted “something beautiful” or a gentler way.» — el autor consigna el desacuerdo entre sus dos informantes: Isabel cree que el miedo la movió y que se habría resistido a un camino suave.
«Karin is convinced that the “ripping from reality” and “from ego” has made her “a completely different person, growing from a new place instead of growing from the place I was, growing from a place of altruism and love, instead of a place of self-defiance and anger.”» — Karin sobre lo que el desgarro le cambió: crecer desde el altruismo y el amor y no desde el desafío de sí y el enojo.
«As her “awareness deepens and awakens” in that “new place,” Karin has been able to share her experiences with a widening circle of sometimes skeptical people and has become a powerful spokesperson for the transformative power of the abduction encounters.» — y en qué la convirtió, según el autor: en portavoz del poder transformador de estos encuentros ante círculos a veces escépticos.
«For Carol the experiences have been “mindaltering,” bringing to her “better perception ability, better reception ability. It is a gift. It is a completion.”» — lo que Carol dice haber ganado, y cómo lo nombra.
«For Nona her experiences “allow the expansion of your spirit, of your soul . . . to the cosmos.» — lo que Nona dice que permiten sus experiencias, con el límite que rompen: no estar reducida a ser un humano en la Tierra.
«Abby said that she felt “like I have had a religious experience. I’ve been shaking all morning,” she noted, which came from her extreme sensitivity to “energy in the air.» — Abby la mañana siguiente a una sesión larga de relajación, con la sensibilidad a la energía en el aire que refiere.
«Transcendent is definitely the word,” she concluded, “transcending what you’ve grown to know as your existence, realizing that your existence is a hundredfold [sic] and this [ordinary reality] is the very bottom of it, energy-wise, the bottom step.» — y la palabra que ella elige para el conjunto, con la escala que le adjudica a la realidad ordinaria.
«Like many experiencers Abby observed that in “ancient cultures” and among “aboriginal peoples and the native peoples, this isn’t abnormal.”» — el encuadre comparativo que Abby pone, y que el autor consigna como habitual entre experienciantes: en las culturas antiguas y entre los pueblos originarios esto no es anormal.
«Earlier in this chapter, we saw that confronting and moving through fear and getting in touch with deep energies of love are important ways that experiencers overcome the traumatic dimension of their encounters.» — el autor resume lo andado: encarar el miedo y tocar las energías del amor son las vías por las que se remonta lo traumático.
«How do we know,” Isabel asked, “that these . . . whoever they are, aren’t using extreme emotions to help us grow?”» — la pregunta de Isabel, que deja abierta la posibilidad de que la emoción extrema sea instrumento.
«Carol compared the “alien encounters” to aspects of Christian mysticism. Fear and pain, she noted, are common to both and are sometimes used by monks» — la comparación de Carol con el misticismo cristiano, apoyada en lo que a su juicio comparten: miedo y dolor.
«Monks used to flagellate themselves. Celtic druids used to lock people in a cave for forty-eight hours until they were sensory deprived.”» — los dos ejemplos con que Carol la sostiene, el segundo atribuido a druidas celtas.
«Perhaps, Carol suggested, “the fear that we encounter may be literally a physiological necessity for us at that time to transcend.”» — y lo que Carol propone a partir de ahí, en potencial: que el miedo sea una necesidad fisiológica para trascender.
«But there is another element that may contribute to, if not account for, the consistent capacity of abduction experiences to bring about a transformation of consciousness or, in Abby’s words, the opportunity to transcend the material level of reality.» — el autor introduce otro factor para explicar la constancia con que estas experiencias transforman la consciencia.
«The altered states and intense emotions that are an intrinsic aspect of the experience appear, with some consistency, to bring about a shattering of boundaries between this domain and the plane of reality where the alien beings seem to exist.» — su formulación: los estados alterados y las emociones intensas rompen la frontera entre este dominio y el plano donde parecen existir esos seres.
«That plane, as we have seen, appears to be on a higher vibrational level, and whatever or whomever these beings may be, they seem to have the capacity to break the barriers that separate our reality and theirs.» — y lo que atribuye a ese plano y a esos seres, con el verbo de apariencia sostenido.
«They can then penetrate our world, while, at the same time, raising the vibratory frequency of the experiencers’ energies so as to enable them to enter the level of consciousness or dimension of reality in which the beings “reside.”» — la doble operación que el autor describe: penetran nuestro mundo y a la vez suben la frecuencia vibratoria del experienciante para que entre al suyo.
«I use quotation marks since Bernard Peixoto and other experiencers have learned that the beings exist nonlocally, “nowhere and everywhere,” as he was told.)» — por qué el autor entrecomilla el verbo residir: sus experienciantes han aprendido que esos seres existen de modo no local. La fuente escribe aquí Bernard Peixoto, no Bernardo.
«Karin has experienced this breaking of the barrier between the beings’ dimension (what she calls “the fourth dimension”) and ours quite vividly.» — el autor señala a Karin como quien ha vivido esa ruptura con más claridad, y consigna el nombre que ella le da al plano de los seres.
«“Vibrationally it just feels different,” she says. “It’s like somebody removed the layer that’s right here, so now I don’t have the safety of this three-dimensional world.» — cómo la describe Karin: la capa de seguridad del mundo tridimensional retirada de golpe.
«(We can recall that Rusty likened this phenomenon to actors passing through a scrim in a theater to reveal another scene within the play. See page 59.)» — el autor recuerda la imagen de Rusty para el mismo fenómeno: actores que atraviesan un telón de gasa y revelan otra escena dentro de la obra.
«Karin says that she starts to “feel presence in the house,” some times for several hours, before she has gone to bed. At this point “the fourth dimension has already entered the house,” and “the barrier is already broken.» — lo que Karin nota antes de acostarse, y cómo lo lee: la cuarta dimensión ya entró a la casa.
«“They can see me,” because “they’ve integrated the third dimension in with them,” but “I can’t see them until I get in that altered state of consciousness.» — la asimetría que ella describe: ellos la ven; ella no, hasta entrar en estado alterado.
«The easiest way to get into that altered state is just to go to sleep,” she says.» — y la vía más fácil para llegar a ese estado, según Karin.
«Once this interdimensional penetration has occurred, Karin says, the beings seem to “exist simultaneously” in both dimensions.» — lo que Karin dice que ocurre después de la penetración: los seres existen a la vez en las dos dimensiones.
«But after she moved through her fear, Karin has observed that the collapse of barriers between dimensions allows her to be “very aware of your soul.» — y lo que le queda tras atravesar el miedo: una consciencia aguda del alma y de eso que dentro de uno es uno.
«For Greg the opening to other dimensions or realities brought about by his encounters reconnected him to the natural state of his childhood.» — lo que ese mismo colapso hizo con Greg, según el autor: reconectarlo con el estado natural de su infancia.
«As a little boy, he recalled, “I had unbelievable openness” to nature and “the other realms. To me to go to bed at night was one of the most exciting things because I’d be free. I lived on a farm, and it was such a richness—all the animals—everything was living to me. Everything was alive. I just passed in and out of the dimensions.» — lo que Greg recuerda de niño en la granja, con el tránsito entre dimensiones dicho sin dramatismo.
«I would go to bed, and I would meet other people, and things would happen, and they were just as real to me. In fact, some had a more feeling quality than my other life.”» — y la jerarquía de realidad que él le adjudica a aquello frente a su otra vida.
«Over time, he says, the constrictions of his upbringing caused “a tremendous amount of pain, so I just withdrew and put up the structures that we all put up in our life and held sacred those things by hiding them.”» — cómo se cerró, según Greg: dolor, retirada y las estructuras que todos levantan.
«Despite the intense distress associated with some of their encounters, abductees often speak of having in some way chosen to participate in this process.» — el autor consigna que los experienciantes dicen a menudo haber elegido participar, pese a la angustia.
«“We really do create our reality,” Greg says. “We can heal and change the things where we allow pain to come in, and we can have a different reality.”» — la formulación de Greg.
«“When you are presented with an experience,” Isabel says, “you make a choice at that point, whether you are aware of it or not, whether you’re going to cause that to destroy you or to uplift you in some way.» — y la de Isabel, que pone la elección en el momento mismo de la experiencia, con o sin consciencia de ella.
«Karin would agree, but does not know “whether it’s a presoul agreement or a ‘this life’ agreement.”» — Karin coincide y deja abierto de cuándo data ese acuerdo.
«We have seen how Nona, Julie, Andrea, and other experiencers feel that they have chosen to participate in the hybrid “project.”» — el autor recuerda que varias experienciantes se sienten participantes elegidas del proyecto híbrido.
«Even though I don’t want to go through it again, it’s important.» — Nona sobre esa obligación, con la reticencia dentro.
«It has been difficult for me to understand just what abductees mean when they say they have chosen these disturbing experiences or drawn them to themselves.» — el autor declara su propia dificultad para entender esa noción de elección.
«I have considered the possibility that they are somehow rationalizing in order to believe that they have control, when in fact they are quite helpless» — la primera hipótesis que consideró: racionalización para sentir control donde hay desamparo.
«or as in the “Stockholm syndrome” associated with hijackings, they might be identifying with their captors in order to feel less threatened.» — la segunda, tomada del síndrome de Estocolmo.
«Perhaps the aliens have manipulated their minds in order to deceive them into complying with their agendas.» — y la tercera: manipulación de las mentes para lograr obediencia.
«But I have since come to a different view.» — pero el autor dice haber llegado después a otra.
«My sense is that when abductees accept the pain and trauma, it is because at some level they are aware that they are participating in an as-yet -unfathomable process» — la que sostiene: que aceptan el trauma porque en algún nivel se saben en un proceso todavía insondable, de crecimiento propio y de despertar de la consciencia humana en general.
«It is as if their individual psyches were intersecting with an evolving cosmic consciousness with which they intuitively feel some sort of harmony or agreement.» — la imagen con que lo cierra, en condicional.
«Any trauma may carry with it the possibility of personal transformation and growth.» — el autor concede que cualquier trauma trae posibilidad de transformación.
«But the alien abduction experiences seem different to me because of their specific capacity to shatter the boundaries of the psyche and to open consciousness to a wider sense of existence and connection in the universe.» — y en qué le parece que éste difiere: por su capacidad específica de romper los límites de la psique.
«Nona has expressed well the transformational power of the destruction of identity that has accompanied the awareness of her experiences» — el autor señala a Nona como quien mejor formuló el poder transformador de esa destrucción de la identidad, que ella misma equipara a una iniciación chamánica.
«It’s a matter of letting go. It’s like the boundaries are gone after that happens,” and “the same thing happens over and over again.”» — Nona sobre lo que le hace ese trance, comparado con encontrarse con la muerte, y sobre su repetición.
«Eventually she let go of her fear of dying and felt a powerful sense of freedom.» — el saldo que el autor le atribuye a Nona.
«For some abductees this boundary-shattering or ego death leaves them with a sense that they are ensouled, even eternal, beings whose existence will survive the death of the body.» — lo que el autor dice que esa muerte del yo deja en algunos experienciantes: la convicción de ser seres con alma, incluso eternos.
«I feel that on some level,” Isabel says, “there’s this huge, bigger part of me that’s overseeing all these other little existences that I’ve chosen to live.”» — cómo lo formula Isabel.
«She likens this “part” to a kind of game master, a true or eternal self that cannot be killed yet knows that life itself is “still just a game.”» — la figura con que Isabel nombra esa parte, según el autor, y el estatuto que le da a la vida.
«Her sense of “wholeness” is“forever, eternal, separate from the body.» — la afirmación de Nona sobre su integridad, y el lugar que le deja al cuerpo.
«Through her experiences and elements of her everyday life as well, Karin has undergone “the loss of everything we know.”» — lo que Karin dice haber perdido, por sus experiencias y por su vida diaria.
«In that consciousness her soul “is not bound by time or space” and is “alive and well.”» — lo que ella sitúa en la otra dimensión, que llama cuarta: un alma no atada al tiempo ni al espacio.
«In that realm she finds her truer, “Karin” self, in contrast to her three-dimensional existence as “Deborah.”» — el desdoblamiento de nombre que Karin describe entre los dos planos; el autor lo consigna sin arbitrar.
«Once abductees have moved through the boundary-shattering trauma that occurs when they permit themselves to relive their experiences, they may undergo a kind of rebirth that seems to connect them to a wondrous sense of luminosity.» — el autor propone que tras el trauma de la ruptura puede venir una especie de renacimiento ligado a una sensación de luminosidad.
«It felt to her as if she had been brought in direct touch with a force that had the power to remove disease and “bring back the purity of cellular and molecular structures.”» — lo que Abby dice haber tocado, con la fórmula sobre la pureza celular y molecular que es suya.
«Greg, throughout his struggles with the darkness of his nature, had felt protected by love.» — lo que Greg dice haberlo protegido a lo largo de sus luchas.
«We go through the dark shadow of ourselves” in order to “get to the luminous part.”» — y el itinerario que propone.
«You think you could just step into Divinity and let it hold you,” he says, but for him “there is a lot of terror” even in “our incredible luminosity.”» — la reserva de Greg, que no exime a lo luminoso del terror.
«We shall examine this phenomenon in greater detail in the next chapter.» — el autor anuncia el desarrollo del asunto en el capítulo siguiente.
«In April 1997 Karin told a large audience that her experiences had enabled her to “look at the deepest, darkest parts of myself,” and in so doing “helped me find the infinite love of the ‘all that is one’ that lives inside of me.» — lo que Karin dijo ante un auditorio grande en abril de 1997.
«I will never again be what I was. Yet there is not a word for how I feel about what I have become. Surely it must be what giving birth is like. There is so much pain because the beauty is so great.”» — y el remate de esa intervención, con la comparación con el parto puesta por ella.
«Virtually all religious and spiritual traditions in societies around the world and through time have in common knowledge of a supreme or ultimate creative principle or intelligence which is variously called the Divine, the Source (or just Source), the One, Home (especially favored by abduction experiencers), the Great Spirit, the ground of being, or God.» — el inventario de nombres que el autor da para el principio creador último, con la anotación de cuál prefieren los experienciantes.
«The secular modern, or post-modern, Western culture in which I was raised and have lived is perhaps unique in the degree to which many of its members have become separated from any sense of the actuality of a divine presence or higher power in nature (Smith 1992).» — lo que el autor dice de la cultura occidental secular en que se crió, citando a Smith 1992.
«Some even deny the existence of any such principle, placing man at the peak of the cosmic intelligence hierarchy (Zimmerman 1998, p. 3).» — y de quienes niegan ese principio y ponen al hombre en la cúspide de la jerarquía cósmica, citando a Zimmerman 1998.
«I am not skilled in the disciplines necessary to argue effectively for or against the reality of a divine presence immanent in nature.» — el autor se declara sin las disciplinas para argumentar a favor o en contra de una presencia divina en la naturaleza.
«What has, however, become clear to me in the nearly ten years that I have been wrestling with the mystery of the alien abduction phenomenon is the fact that the deeper power and meaning of the encounters cannot be understood without consideration of their transformative power and spiritual significance.» — lo que sí sostiene tras casi diez años: que el poder y el sentido hondos de estos encuentros no se entienden sin su fuerza transformadora y su significación espiritual.
«There aren’t just little gray guys with big eyes,” Karin says. “Ultimately it’s about knowing God.» — la fórmula de Karin sobre lo que está en juego.
«We seem to be experiencing now in the United States, and more or less throughout Western culture, a kind of spiritual renaissance.» — el autor sitúa el fenómeno dentro de lo que llama un renacimiento espiritual en Estados Unidos y en la cultura occidental.
«It reflects a deep hunger for something missing in the lives of many people, a sense, however vague, that there are other realms from which they feel cut off, and a growing realization that many of the catastrophic events of this century now ending have derived from radical secularism and spiritual emptiness.» — y a qué lo atribuye: un hambre de algo que falta y la sospecha de que las catástrofes del siglo vienen del secularismo radical y el vacío espiritual.
«It seems clear that people in the West are increasingly seeking more direct contact with a higher power, which would usually be called God were it not for the anthropocentric connotation and other baggage that has become attached to this word.» — la búsqueda que le parece clara, con la razón por la que se evita la palabra Dios.
«Many of the phenomena documented in this chapter may sound familiar to students of the history of religious traditions. The longing for connection with Source or the ground of being; the anguish of separation from the Divine; the process of breaking down the barriers to connection or reconnection with Source; the cycles of the soul’s incarnation or reincarnation—are all familiar aspects of spiritual transformation.» — el autor reconoce que casi todo lo del capítulo le sonará conocido a quien estudie tradiciones religiosas, y enumera qué.
«What seems to be unique about the abduction phenomenon, as documented throughout this book, is its reality» — lo que a su juicio sí es propio del fenómeno; la palabra queda partida por el corte de línea y sigue en la cita siguiente.
«shocking content, its energetic intensity, and its potentially rapid transformative power.» — la continuación: contenido que sacude la realidad, intensidad energética y poder transformador potencialmente rápido.
«This may enable individuals who, generally speaking, have not undertaken a path of spiritual practice to connect or reconnect with Source dramatically and quickly when they confront and work through the mind-shattering terror that often, at least initially, is produced by the encounters.» — y para quién eso importa, según el autor: gente que no ha seguido ninguna práctica espiritual y aun así conecta con la Fuente de golpe.
«Some of the approaches to a higher power are initiated by individuals themselves. These include traditional forms of religious worship, such as prayer, meditation, and devotional service; twelve-step programs for the treatment of addictions; yoga, Holotropic Breathwork, and controlled out-of-body experiences (Buhlman 1996; Monroe 1971 and 1996); thoughtful use of psychedelic agents; vision quests and other activities associated with native and Eastern spiritual practices and rituals.» — el catálogo de vías buscadas por la propia persona, donde el autor cita a Buhlman 1996 y a Monroe 1971 y 1996 para las experiencias extracorporales controladas.
«These include near-death and other spontaneous out-of-body experiences, traumatic losses, serious illnesses or other personal tragedies that propel spiritual growth, spontaneous religious epiphanies or “born again” experiences, and of course encounters with strange humanoid beings.» — y el catálogo de las que llegan desde fuera, sin buscarlas, con los encuentros con seres humanoides extraños al final de la lista.
«In this chapter I will try to show how the alien abduction phenomenon can potentially be one of the most powerful agents of spiritual growth, personal transformation, and expanded awareness that is now affecting people on this planet.» — lo que el capítulo se propone mostrar.
«As Karin puts it, abduction experiences are the “fast track” for personal change (see also Whitley Strieber’s remarks on page 18).» — la fórmula de Karin para eso, que el autor empareja con lo dicho por Strieber en el aparato.
«You want to know what it’s like to be in Source?” she once exclaimed.» — la invitación con que ella lo dice.
«In earlier chapters we have seen how the light, energy, and vibratory intensity of the abduction experiences, the traumatic shattering of the abductees’ worldviews, and the shocking visions of the threat to the planet’s life to which they have been exposed have combined to open their awareness to an expanded view of reality.» — el autor recapitula lo andado: luz, energía, derrumbe de la cosmovisión y visiones de la amenaza al planeta abren la consciencia a una realidad ampliada.
«Here we will explore more deeply the expanded sense of consciousness and the spiritual power and meaning of the encounters for the abductees’ lives and for their view of themselves in a rapidly and radically transforming world.» — lo que el capítulo se propone explorar.
«In order to appreciate this dimension of the phenomenon, it is necessary, I have found, to bear with the experiencers the fear, pain, and nearly overwhelming vibratory energies associated with the abduction experiences, and to put aside as much as possible conventional worldviews and ontological preconceptions.» — la condición que el autor pone para apreciar esa dimensión: acompañar el miedo y las energías y dejar de lado las preconcepciones ontológicas.
«stuck in a place of resentment and victimization from which personal growth is difficult or impossible.» — y el costo de no hacerlo, cargado al facilitador: el experienciante queda atorado en resentimiento y victimización.
«Sue expresses this challenge clearly: “I think what this phenomenon is doing, the abduction scenario,” is to press “really nasty buttons. It makes you feel like a victim.» — Sue sobre lo que a su juicio hace el fenómeno.
«It makes you feel like a victim. At the moment you have no control.» — y la disyuntiva que ella plantea desde adentro.
«Do you lie back and take it? Do you withdraw, or do you fight? Well, I’ll tell you, if you get up and fight and get beyond that victimization feeling, change happens.» — su respuesta, y lo que dice que ocurre al salir de la victimización.
«But what most people are not doing is getting beyond that feeling of being a victim.» — con el diagnóstico de por qué la mayoría no llega ahí.
«The alien beings are usually perceived by experiencers, not as spirits or godly creatures, but as emissaries or messengers from the creative principle, which they most often seem to call “Source.”» — el autor consigna cómo perciben los experienciantes a esos seres: no como espíritus ni criaturas divinas, sino como emisarios del principio creador que llaman Fuente.
«For Karin the beings function as “the go-between. It’s the translator” or a “kind of interpreter,” bridging the gulf that has developed between humans and “the One.”» — la función de intermediario que Karin les asigna.
«Sometimes abductees perceive, or are told by the beings, that their (the beings’) true nature is a kind of energy form, but that they have to become embodied to play this intermediary role between humans and Source.» — lo que los experienciantes perciben o les dicen sobre la naturaleza de esos seres: forma de energía que necesita encarnarse para ejercer esa mediación.
«Other experiencers note that the beings seem to have a connection with spirit or Source that we do not have or have lost.» — y lo que otros experienciantes notan, con el verbo de apariencia sostenido.
«“There’s an advantage that I think these beings have,” Carol says, for “they are able to fathom more about the universe and all beings’ relation ships in it.» — la ventaja que Carol les atribuye.
«There’s such an unbelievable comfort that I can get from communicating with these beings,” she notes, for “by helping me feel something that I can’t see, touch, smell, taste, they help me feel closer to that Universal Source.”» — y el consuelo que dice sacar de tratarlos: sentir lo que no ve ni toca la acerca a esa Fuente universal.
«I don’t think technologically advanced aliens come all across the universe just to look up your ass,” Greg observed caustically.» — la objeción de Greg, dicha con sorna que el autor consigna.
«I think this whole phenomenon is about the desire of humanity to touch the numinous and the numinous coming closer.”» — y lo que él propone en su lugar.
«According to Karin, “The messengers of the Source are the grays, and they are in touch with the Source, even closer than we are, so they’re that middle connection ground” and will “assist us with the transition on Earth.”» — la jerarquía que traza Karin: los grises como mensajeros y terreno de conexión intermedio.
«The blond ones, the tall blond ones, are still closer to Source,” she says, as do many other experiencers.» — encima de ellos, los rubios altos, que ella y otros ponen más cerca de la Fuente.
«They are the “spiritual supervisors,” or “Source incarnate, and can teach us things about how Source in its true form, its true energy form, exists.”» — el papel que les asigna, hasta llamarlos Fuente encarnada.
«These blond guys to me are the spiritual leaders that kind of watch over the grays that interact with us.”» — y la versión que dio en otra ocasión: los rubios vigilan a los grises que tratan con nosotros.
«“The Creator,” she says, has “messengers of all sorts that are calling us to continue our evolution.”» — cómo cierra Karin ese esquema, con mensajeros de todo tipo llamando a seguir evolucionando.
«As I explore their encounters more deeply, especially their experiences of Source, abductees sometimes express the conviction that the Earth is not their true Home, which is in another realm outside of space and time.» — el autor consigna la convicción que aparece al ahondar: la Tierra no es su Hogar verdadero.
«Even the spaceship may feel like Home or a part of Home. “The ship is my Home,” Karin» — hasta la nave puede sentirse como Hogar; la frase de Karin queda partida por el corte de plana.
«“The ship is my Home,” Karin says.“I miss my Home. I miss all the things I know that are familiar, like the walls that curve around.» — lo que Karin dice extrañar, con detalles domésticos.
«She has a kind of spirit guide or head alien she knows well in the ship, whom she calls Fresca.» — la guía o jefe de la nave que Karin nombra por su cuenta.
«a connection’s made telepathically: ‘Welcome back, you’re here, you’re loved and with the One.’ That’s what they call themselves, the One.”» — el saludo telepático que Karin refiere al llegar, y el nombre con que dice que se llaman a sí mismos.
«Experiencers may have quite clear notions of Home, or what it is like to be in the presence of Source or God, as if it were a totally familiar place.» — el autor consigna que esas nociones de Hogar pueden ser muy precisas, como de un lugar del todo familiar.
«The Source,” Catherine says, is “not bounded by any particular dimension or universe or place, as we would see it, or time as we know it.» — cómo describe Catherine la Fuente: energía que rodea todo, sin dimensión ni tiempo.
«It’s the energy that makes things do whatever it is that they do, what gives things life, what gives the energy its energy. It’s got a knowing to it.”» — y lo que ella le añade al final: esa energía sabe.
«Gary speaks of knowing in language that echoes Old Testament fears of Yahweh.» — el autor empareja el lenguaje de Gary con el temor veterotestamentario a Yahvé; la analogía es suya.
«There is all-knowing in the craft,” knowledge so powerful that if we were “aware of our full potential,” or if we were to face “what we are,” the “trauma” would be so enormous that the body would “disintegrate.”» — lo que Gary dice de la nave, y hasta dónde lleva la consecuencia: reconocerse del todo desintegraría el cuerpo.
«Karin experienced the power and beauty of the Source energy in relation to the hybrid babies (see chapter 6).“It’s pure energy,” she says, “and seeing those little ones and all the love that came» — lo que Karin dice haber sentido con los bebés híbridos, en clave de energía pura.
«There is a depth that just doesn’t exist here.» — Will sobre el amor en el Hogar, con el juicio sobre los demás incluido.
«If you can, try to imagine the deepest, most beautiful color that you’ve ever seen. It would be like the next moment knowing that you were going to be blind for the rest of your life.» — la imagen con que Will responde, llorando, cuando el autor le pide precisar esa profundidad.
«There’s a depth to the connectedness and to the feeling nature. It’s as if at one level we are one, and yet the sense of individuality that has taken control in this world still exists.”» — y la tensión que él mismo deja sin resolver entre la unidad y la individualidad que rige en este mundo.
«In the summer of 1997, Will spoke about his experiences to an audience consisting mainly of therapists.» — el marco de la intervención pública de Will en el verano de 1997.
«there is nothing like it,” he said. “There is nothing you can conceive of that isn’t understood.» — lo que dijo ahí sobre estar en presencia de esa conexión con la Fuente.
«The pain of separation or disconnection from Home or Source that is suggested in Will’s words is felt by many experiencers.» — el autor generaliza ese dolor de separación a muchos experienciantes.
«I have seen Will himself weep on several occasions when he expressed his longing to be reunited with God but had to face the fact of his commitment to life on this plane.» — lo que dice haber visto en Will varias veces, y contra qué chocaba su anhelo.
«most strikingly, when he brought upon himself as a fifteen-year-old boy the severe burns that cost him his left arm, an event he sometimes refers to as “the execution”» — el episodio de los quince años que le costó el brazo izquierdo, y el nombre que Will le da.
«On several occasions in his life—most strikingly, when he brought upon himself as a fifteen-year-old boy the severe burns that cost him his left arm, an event he sometimes refers to as “the execution”—Will has more or less consciously toyed with the notion of killing himself in order to return to his “Home” or be reunited with God.» — el autor consigna, con cautela, que Will ha coqueteado con matarse para volver a su Hogar.
«From this perspective Will’s relationship with the beings is ambivalent, to say the least.» — y la ambivalencia que eso le crea con esos seres.
«At the same time, as in the incident of near-fatal electrocution in the tree, the beings appear to protect him and bring him back from the edge of death.» — el otro lado de esa ambivalencia: parecen protegerlo y traerlo de vuelta del borde de la muerte.
«Just before he grabbed the wire that completed the circuit that sent intense electrical current through the left side of his body, Will remembered being able to “see forever,” which expressed both his view from the tall tree and a feeling of closeness to the beings and Home.» — lo que Will recuerda del instante antes de tomar el cable, con la doble lectura del ver para siempre que el autor anota.
«In the next moments, Will remembers thinking, as if from both his own and the beings’ point of view, “This little shit is going to do this as often as he can, bring it right to the brink,” and “the little shit knows that we’re not going to let him die, that we’re not done yet.”» — lo que Will se dice pensando desde el punto de vista de esos seres.
«As he spoke further of the moments surrounding the “execution,” Will seemed to relive his life-and-death struggle, and the experiences surrounding the electrocution in the tree appeared to merge with memories of other encounters with the beings. “» — el autor consigna que, al hablar de aquello, la electrocución se le fundía con otros encuentros.
«“As much as I want to be them, I can’t be them,” he lamented.» — el lamento de Will.
«There is something I can’t reconcile yet,” he continued.“I don’t want to have to forget this closeness.» — lo que declara no poder reconciliar.
«When they look at me, there’s total understanding in the eyes.» — lo que dice encontrar en la mirada de esos seres.
«The problem occurs not even that day but later on in the hospital.» — y dónde ubica el problema: no ese día, sino después, en el hospital.
«Going back to the moment in the tree just after he grabbed the charged wire, Will poured out a jumble of thoughts with a confusion of pronouns that seem to reflect a fluidity in his identity between himself and the beings:» — el autor anota la confusión de pronombres del relato de Will y la lee como fluidez de identidad entre él y esos seres.
«We’re going to let the body drop now, and I’m going to be with this for a while.» — el arranque de ese monólogo, con la decisión de soltar el cuerpo dicha en primera persona del plural.
«I accomplished what I wanted.» — lo que Will dice haber conseguido.
«I don’t know how to say it.» — y su propia declaración de insuficiencia para decirlo.
«I really didn’t have to do it, I, Billy [Will’s name for his flesh-andblood, less spiritual self ].» — el nombre con que Will llama a su yo de carne y hueso; la glosa entre corchetes es del autor.
«Though Will’s torment is extreme, most abductees also have trouble reconciling the sense that they are different from other people and do not belong here with their earthly existence and commitments.» — el autor generaliza: casi todos tienen problemas para conciliar el no pertenecer aquí con sus compromisos terrenales.
«I’ve never felt a part of everyone else,” she told me» — Isabel sobre su soledad y sobre lo que se siente ser.
«I’ve never felt a part of everyone else,” she told me in one of our first meetings.» — y su declaración sobre no haberse sentido nunca parte de los demás.
«When I’m with them, I feel at Home. I feel a part of them. I feel more a part of them than I do here, even though I went through a lot of terror with them, and it’s been very confusing.”» — dónde sí se siente en casa, con el terror y la confusión consignados en la misma frase.
«Karin speaks again and again of her painful separation from the other realm:» — el autor presenta el pasaje siguiente como algo que Karin repite una y otra vez.
«It’s really hard to feel so much love, and so much connection to those children, and to all of the people there, and be so separate from all of it down here, and be so different, because I feel like this fish flopping around on the pier» — la imagen con que Karin describe su separación: pez boqueando en el muelle.
«This new species [this was after a powerful encounter involving hybrid babies] is going to be able to do it.» — lo que ella espera de la especie nueva, dicho tras un encuentro con bebés híbridos.
«I’m angry that I’m separated from the ship. I’m angry that I’m separated from that consciousness, and for the most part I’m separated from anything here on Earth.» — el enojo de Karin, enumerado.
«The reconnection with God has been the purpose of Eva’s life, and her experiences have been an intimate part of this process.» — el autor sitúa así el sentido que Eva da a su vida y a sus experiencias.
«I have searched to quench a thirst I could not name,” she wrote» — lo que Eva escribió en su tesis de posgrado.
«I experienced a longing I did not know how to express, and I wept for my broken heart.» — y el anhelo que dice no haber sabido expresar.
«In the language of religious ecstasy related to her study of Kabbalistic texts, Eva wrote of “committing the rest of my days to do Your work, to unveil Your light in the darkness, to remember [sic] and reclaim orphaned parts of our Selves back into wholeness and oneness, to Be a bridge between Heaven and Earth, a communion of spirit and matter.”» — lo que Eva escribió en clave de éxtasis religioso, ligado por el autor a su estudio de textos cabalísticos; el sic dentro de la cita es de la fuente.
«Physical soul communion” can occur when two people have sex, Karin has remarked, and for many people “that’s the closest we literally get to feeling God.”» — Karin sobre la comunión del alma en el acto sexual, y la cercanía a Dios que le atribuye para mucha gente.
«But it’s not the flesh with the flesh,” she suggests, it is the separate energies “becoming one energy,”» — la corrección que ella hace: no es carne con carne sino energías que se vuelven una.
«We recognize that we’re connected to some thing,” and “for a brief moment” one may know “what Source resonating in your body feels like.”» — lo que puede saberse en ese momento breve, según Karin.
«I don’t need to have sex with somebody to feel that I’m in union in this spherical timeless, spaceless space.» — la reserva de Karin: eso no satisface lo del alma, y ella no necesita sexo para saberse parte de la Fuente.
«One of the ways we get in connection all the time is in a sexual experience.» — y por qué eso sí importa para los demás.
«At times experiencers may perceive the dilemma of duality and the pain of separation as if from Source’s viewpoint.» — el autor consigna que a veces el experienciante ve el asunto desde la Fuente misma.
«Karin speaks as if she knows the anguish of separation as God might feel it.» — lo que Karin dice conocer, en primera persona y como lo sentiría Dios.
«She identifies with “all the pain of all the people in our world, the pain of separation from our Home, the pain of separation from not having children, and just the thought of separation from the One, and then the Universe’s pain that it feels for our experiences.”» — la enumeración de dolores con que ella lo llena.
«out in the universe in that altered place and those other realities” and is awakened by experiencing Source within her, it is then that Karin feels, especially from the blond beings, their hurt “for all the lost souls that aren’t going to get it.» — lo que dice percibir sobre todo en los rubios: dolor por las almas perdidas.
«It’s God being so sad about what’s going on.» — y cómo lo nombra, hasta el llanto del útero y de la tierra.
«From the anguish of their separation from Source, it has occurred to some experiencers that perhaps the pain caused by this duality might have to do with our concreteness, the density of our physical embodiment.» — el autor recoge la hipótesis que a algunos experienciantes se les ha ocurrido: que el dolor de la dualidad tenga que ver con la densidad de nuestro cuerpo.
«Julie likens embodiment to being in a lead-lined room.» — la imagen de Julie para la encarnación.
«Karin and other experiencers may come to see all of perceived reality as an expression of God consciousness in which human beings participate.» — lo que el autor dice que Karin y otros llegan a ver: toda la realidad percibida como expresión de una consciencia de Dios en la que participa el humano.
«Karin, Isabel, Will, Greg and others relate their abduction experiences to a kind of cosmic game in which a lonely Creator learns of Itself though a splitting of consciousness—“an explosion into the multiplicity of Self,” Greg says.» — el juego cósmico con que varios de ellos enlazan lo vivido: un Creador solo que se conoce partiéndose, con la fórmula de Greg.
«Out of the primordial potential, God spawns beings who separate from Him and then» — el desarrollo de ese mito, con la frase partida por el corte de plana.
«But in the case of humankind, the experiment went awry, as many of us have lost connection with the creative principle altogether.» — y dónde se torció, según ese relato: gran parte de la humanidad perdió la conexión.
«The alien beings seem to play a part in reconnect ing the experiencers to the Creator or Source.» — el papel que en él se asigna a esos seres.
«Psychiatrist Stanislav Grof, from his own researches with nonordinary states of consciousness, has come to a similar view of the process of cosmic evolution (Grof 1998).» — el autor consigna que el psiquiatra Stanislav Grof llegó a una visión parecida de la evolución cósmica desde sus investigaciones con estados no ordinarios, citando Grof 1998.
«It is Catherine whose abduction experiences led her to the most elaborate understanding of the relationship between human embodiment and separation from Source.» — el autor señala a Catherine como la que más elaboró el vínculo entre encarnación y separación de la Fuente.
«In January 1993, in a relaxation session in which she moved readily into an altered state of consciousness, she brought forth a kind of parable of human/alien/Source incarnation or reincarnation.» — el marco de esa elaboración: una sesión de relajación de enero de 1993, que el autor califica de parábola.
«Once a “very, very long time” ago, she said, in a sort of “training center” that was “not a place like we have places here,” something like a project developed wherein some beings (potential humans) would, after a kind of council or debriefing, choose to come to the Earth and become embodied (really more densely embodied, since beings in the Source realm were, Catherine insisted, “embodied somewhat”), while» — el arranque de la parábola de Catherine, con la precisión que ella insiste en hacer: en el reino de la Fuente los seres ya estaban encarnados en algún grado.
«The purpose of this project or experiment was to increase knowledge of our awareness and connection to Source and in a sense Source’s knowledge of Itself.» — el propósito que Catherine da al proyecto: aumentar el conocimiento de la conexión con la Fuente y, en cierto modo, el que la Fuente tiene de sí.
«After the “debriefing,” those beings who would become human “go to another place—it’s not an easy thing to move between realms—where there is a machine or device that enables us to make a temporary hole or tunnel [a tunnel again] between realms,” that is, between “this physical plane” and a kind of primordial or sourceful dimension from which such differentiation can evolve.» — el dispositivo que abre un túnel temporal entre los dos planos; el corchete con la repetición del túnel lo pone el autor.
«There are other physical planes,” she remarked, “but this just happens to be the one we went to.”» — la aclaración de Catherine sobre que hay otros planos físicos y éste solo es al que fueron.
«After passing through what seemed like just a few feet in the tunnel, Catherine and the other beings who were headed for embodiment emerged “in this [Earth] realm.”» — lo que ocurre al cruzar, según ella: unos cuantos pies de túnel y la salida a este reino.
«Catherine said, “We do have some physical matter there [in the Source dimension],” although with “slightly different physical laws.”» — lo que Catherine responde cuando el autor le pide describir el túnel: en la dimensión de la Fuente hay materia física, con leyes algo distintas.
«The “tunnel is an actual physical tunnel, like maybe three feet long, and on the other end, I can see stars and blackness and Earth.”» — y la descripción del túnel mismo, con lo que se ve del otro lado.
«But the transition the Earth-bound beings make is a kind of “projection of consciousness,” for “we don’t have to physically move down to Earth.”» — la naturaleza del tránsito, según Catherine: proyección de consciencia, no traslado físico.
«The decision as to “where we want to be born” appears to be based on what a particular soul in its evolution needs to “work on” or, in Catherine’s case, “what will make it easiest for me to reestablish the energy connection.”» — de qué depende dónde nacer, según ella: de lo que el alma necesita trabajar, o de lo que le facilite restablecer la conexión energética.
«Catherine thought she would be “less distracted by physical things” and might be forced to “look for other meanings” and thus be able to make an “energy connection” with Source.» — la elección concreta que Catherine dice haber hecho: una vida muy dura que la forzara a buscar otras respuestas.
«Her memory was of entering a woman’s body at the moment of conception in what appeared to be India thousands of years ago.» — dónde ubica ese recuerdo: la India, hace miles de años, desde la concepción.
«Because of the extreme poverty of this family’s situation, Catherine thought she would be “less distracted by physical things” and might be forced to “look for other meanings” and thus be able to make an “energy connection” with Source.» — y el cálculo que le atribuye a su propia decisión: menos distracción con lo físico.
«Catherine then seemed to remember in vivid detail the experience of pregnancy (“this warmth, this liquid”) and the crushing, squeezing sensation of her birth, this time as a baby boy.» — el detalle del embarazo y del parto que Catherine recuerda, esta vez como varón; el verbo de apariencia es del autor.
«Equally vivid memories followed of feeling “very cold all over” after she was out of the womb, being hit, crying, and then being shown to her mother, who had dark hair and olive skin, after which the umbilical cord was cut with a curved blade of some sort.» — los recuerdos de lo inmediato al nacer, hasta el corte del cordón.
«What struck her most was “how physical everything is. Everything’s so solid.”» — lo que más la impresionó.
«But the energy Catherine had been surrounded with before was not there, and she felt terribly isolated.» — y lo que faltaba: la energía en que había estado envuelta antes.
«I don’t know if I can survive a whole lifetime of this,” she wondered, but “It’s too late now. I can’t really get out of it.”» — lo que dice haberse preguntado entonces, y por qué ya no había marcha atrás.
«It did not take the Indian baby boy more than perhaps a few months to lose his “knowledge of who I really am” and “of the Source.”» — cuánto tardó ese niño en perder el saber de sí y de la Fuente.
«But this is all “planned,” she said, for the alien beings, who keep track of this process,“know that you’re going to lose the knowledge of the Source.”» — lo que Catherine sostiene sobre esa pérdida: está planeada, y esos seres lo saben.
«The purpose of the project was to “force us through the isolation to make different connections with the Energy” and become “disengaged once again from the physical.”» — el propósito de esa pérdida, en sus términos: forzar por el aislamiento a hacer otras conexiones con la Energía.
«If you keep the knowledge of the Source, that kind of defeats the purpose of the experiment, which continues over many lifetimes.» — y por qué conservar el saber arruinaría el experimento, que según ella corre por muchas vidas.
«The spaceships and the alien beings have been around for thousands of years,” she said, but “have been interpreted differently.”» — lo que Catherine dice de las naves y de esos seres a lo largo de milenios: los mismos, interpretados de otro modo.
«The embodied form in which human beings see them “is the form that they have to take to come here, to check up on us.”» — y para qué toman la forma en que los vemos.
«She was struck by the vividness and coherence of the details and “overwhelmed by the physicality of it.”» — lo que Catherine dijo al revisar la sesión con el autor.
«As experiencers explore their encounter history, they may discover that they have had an intimate relationship from the beginning of their lives with beings of some kind or with Source itself.» — el autor consigna lo que los experienciantes descubren al recorrer su historia: un trato desde el principio de sus vidas con esos seres o con la Fuente.
«As a child, when Andrea would play outside with her brothers and sisters or be alone in nature, she would feel “deeply connected with everything around there.”» — el caso de Andrea de niña.
«As the experiencers grow up, they are likely to lose awareness of this connection.» — y lo que el autor dice que suele pasar al crecer.
«After we had worked with him for about two years, Will realized that his relationship with the beings was lifelong.» — lo que Will comprendió tras dos años de trabajo.
«As a child he “envisioned a little red devil, which was the earliest way that I could conceive it.”» — la primera figura con que Will dice haber concebido aquello de niño.
«The message from them was “‘We are going to be with you from the get go’” and “‘Every time you’ve gone through the fire of something, it’s been okay.’”» — el mensaje que atribuye a esos seres.
«The soul gets placed with a body” or “shell,” Karin said in her first meeting with us, and “decides, yes, I’m going to be a part of this,” but “what happens through the birth process is that the soul loses its consciousness of itself.”» — lo que Karin dijo en la primera sesión sobre el alma, el cuerpo y lo que el nacimiento le quita.
«The role of the aliens—one of whom she described as “insect looking” with segmented arms, a thin neck, sticklike legs, and “this huge head with these huge eyes”» — el papel que Karin les da, con la descripción del que ella llama de aspecto de insecto.
«Before the one regression that we did together, Gary told us of a vision that occurred while he was being held as a two-year-old in his mother’s arms. As he looked around in childlike wonderment, his attention was drawn to a high church steeple that was back-lit by a golden object that “rose higher and higher until it was above the steeple.”» — la visión que Gary sitúa a los dos años, en brazos de su madre, con un objeto dorado tras el campanario.
«A voice that “appeared like God was talking to him” and said, “I have something for you to do.”» — la voz que dice haber oído entonces, y el encargo.
«Gary had remained convinced all his life that “the Creator, the Source of everything,” had talked to him, and by the time he was fifteen he had “made a decision to do what I’d been asked to do.”» — la convicción que Gary dice haber sostenido toda su vida, y la decisión que tomó a los quince años.
«In the relaxed state, the energies Gary was experiencing were so intense that he had trouble speaking coherently.» — lo que el autor observó en la sesión: energías tan intensas que a Gary le costaba hablar con coherencia.
«He immediately recalled from perhaps age five a humanoid being without hair and a head too large for its body.» — lo primero que Gary recordó, de hacia los cinco años.
«those of us present, himself and the beings, were all a “circle of colleagues” with “one intention, one complete agreement,” and “complete trust.”» — cómo describe Gary a los presentes en ese estado.
«The human mind is separate and restricted,” he said, but in this place there is no time, death, separation or fear, only mutual understanding.» — y lo que dice de la mente humana frente a ese lugar sin tiempo, muerte, separación ni miedo.
«The ship, he realized, was not as our minds ordinarily understand this, but of light. “The little boy is seeing our vehicle. We are in the vehicle, and he is connected. It is like we become One. We agree to be together.”» — lo que Gary entiende por nave: no lo que la mente supone, sino luz; y el acuerdo entre el niño y quienes iban dentro.
«Gary attributed his mission as a healer who “awaken[s] ancient Source in other humans” to this early experience “of all-knowing in the craft”» — a qué atribuye Gary su misión de sanador.
«In this somewhat ecstatic state, he realized that since earliest childhood he had never really forgotten his relation ship to the Divine and had always felt protected.» — lo que Gary concluyó en ese estado que el autor califica de algo extático.
«Source,” he realized during the session, was “far beyond what man has put up as gods.» — lo que Gary dice haber comprendido en la sesión sobre la Fuente y sobre lo que el cuerpo aguanta.
«More shamans” need to come together, he remarked, to “lift the consciousness of their people.» — y lo que propone: más chamanes juntos para levantar la consciencia de sus pueblos.
«As abductees explore their encounters, they may discover that finding a way to reconnect with Source, to “return to the One,” has, as it was for mystics of an earlier time, been a central project of their lives.» — el autor empareja ese proyecto de volver al Uno con el de los místicos de otro tiempo; la analogía es suya.
«I just want to go Home, and I know that they will get me there as soon as I acknowledge that every opportunity, every circumstance in my life is exactly that,” Will told the audience in 1997.» — lo que Will dijo al auditorio de 1997.
«We have seen how his determination to rush the transformation process by destroying his body nearly cost him his life when he was fifteen.» — el autor recuerda que la prisa por forzar esa transformación casi le cuesta la vida a los quince años.
«In April 1998 he told us poignantly that on that day “I tried to make a call [Home], and that’s not my place.”» — y cómo lo nombró Will en abril de 1998.
«The understanding he had at fifteen “did not prepare me for the grief that I feel in my humanness for what I have done. I was getting a little ahead of myself. I was getting pretty arrogant.”» — el juicio que Will hace sobre sí mismo a la distancia.
«We will consider now the role of the abduction experiences and the alien beings in bringing about this reconnection with the supreme principle. In my view this process is at the heart of the abduction phenomenon. It begins with choosing and remembering.» — lo que el autor pone en el centro del fenómeno: la reconexión con el principio supremo, que empieza por elegir y recordar.
«Eva wrote in her thesis, “Transcendence occurs when one chooses unity over duality.» — la fórmula de Eva en su tesis.
«Karin told us, “Each soul, each consciousness has to choose for itself that it wants to awaken, that it’s ready.» — y la de Karin sobre la elección de despertar.
«When you make a conscious decision to sacrifice, to love, to be scared, to walk into all of those places, boom, something starts happening.» — lo que ella dice que pasa cuando se toma esa decisión.
«however, is “doing it at this unbelievable speed. It’s like I’m just devouring it,” for “I have this one lifetime and I have a ton of stuff to do.”» — el ritmo que Karin se adjudica, y su razón.
«As we saw in the previous chapter, the reconnection to Source that many abductees speak about seems to depend on a breaking down of barriers or layers of the mind, confronting pain, terror, annihilation, death, and above all the surrender of control to the energy or spirit of the universe.» — de qué depende esa reconexión, según el autor: derribar barreras de la mente y, sobre todo, rendir el control a la energía del universo.
«Without that process, ” Eva says, “being embodied and being with the mental mind that a human has,” it would not have been “possible to get where I am now.» — la condición que pone Eva, con la mente humana encarnada como obstáculo.
«Whatever the “aliens’” ultimate “purpose” or “intention” (I use quotation marks to recognize that such designations and concepts reflect the way our minds work), the abduction encounters seem to provide a virtually unparalleled opportunity to bring about the transcendence that so many abductees seek, and in the process they may lose the fear of death.» — el autor entrecomilla propósito e intención por reconocer que son categorías de nuestra mente, y le atribuye al encuentro una ocasión casi sin par para la trascendencia.
«It’s like somebody takes the inside of my skull and all the crap that keeps me from being open,” Karin once said.» — la imagen de Karin para el desmontaje de esas barreras.
«I’m not going to be annihilated by my own pain,” she said two weeks later.» — lo que declara sobre su propio dolor.
«“Maybe I’m being incredibly naïve, but I completely trust the universe.» — y la confianza que afirma, con la reserva puesta por ella misma.
«Pain is almost synonymous with lesson.» — lo que dijo dos semanas después.
«It’s not about making sense,” Eva says, “I’m talking from a level where there’s just pure existence” and “no barriers.» — la posición de Eva, que rehúsa el registro del sentido.
«As another abductee confronted her fears, “blockages melted like snow in the summer sun,” she said. (This woman’s case has not been discussed elsewhere in this book.)» — la imagen de otra experienciante, que el autor consigna advirtiendo que su caso no aparece en ninguna otra parte del libro.
«Sequoyah Trueblood said to a group of my colleagues in 1997: We’ve got all these abduction cases that our brother here, John, is working on. When some of these people are taken by extraterrestrials, what they’ve shown is that “hey, we don’t have control. . . . I do have this fear here.” . . . So when we do have these abduction experiences, it puts us in a situation where we get to experience that fear, and we have a chance to transmute it, to let go of it at that time. The only way we can do it, though, is through prayer and giving ourselves back to that Source that we came from, acknowledging that Source first. . . . So when people come back reporting, “Well, I didn’t have any control there,” it’s true. We don’t, and what we’re being shown in those cases is that everything in this universe is an example of unconditional love.» — lo que Trueblood dijo a un grupo de colegas del autor en 1997: la abducción como ocasión de vivir el miedo y transmutarlo, con la oración y la devolución a la Fuente como única vía, y la falta de control leída como ejemplo de amor incondicional.
«Isabel regards her abduction experiences as “a school to help you remember what you already know,” which is that “we are all part of God, but living in this backward structure,» — lo que Isabel ve en sus experiencias: una escuela para recordar lo que ya se sabe, con la estructura al revés en que dice que vivimos.
«I think they have actual steps. You know, it’s not random.» — y la intención que ella les atribuye, con pasos y no al azar.
«I had to go through all the terror. I had to go through letting go of everything,» — el precio que dice haber pagado antes de poder recordar.
«If I had chosen to remain at the terror stage, I could be in that stage for ten years.» — y lo que a su juicio pasa si uno se queda en la etapa del terror.
«Even dying to her means freedom, discovering other “facets” of herself, which she likens to the many facets of a diamond, “other Isabels that are living other lives, other experiences in other dimensions.”» — lo que para Isabel significa morir, con la figura del diamante y sus caras.
«After he read his passage in the manuscript, Gary wrote to me, “I would like to emphasize that there was no fear in the light. A feeling of perfect peace accompanied by colleagues. I felt equal and connected” (letter to the author, May 20, 1999).» — nota al pie: tras leer su pasaje en el manuscrito, Gary le escribió al autor para precisar que en la luz no hubo miedo. La corrección del informante queda impresa.
«In the early fall of 1997, Karin had an experience that seemed to bring her directly into the presence of Source. It began when a blue light came into her room, and the next thing she remembered was seeing an orange light at the bottom of a ship, into which she was brought quickly.» — el episodio de Karin del otoño de 1997, en la lectura que el autor le da.
«Once in the ship, she found herself inside of what appeared to be a small metal ball with a piece of metal that came up around her head. Next to her was a tall blond being who appeared to be wearing an odd monklike robe. She recognized this being as her tutor, mentor, teacher, and guide—all words that she used—and it was he who had put her inside the ball,“ ‘for transport to the light,’” he explained.» — lo que Karin dice haber encontrado dentro: una bola metálica y un rubio alto con hábito de monje, a quien reconoce como tutor y guía.
«Karin began to cry as she saw “the light coming from a distance” in the form of a huge ball.» — cómo describe la llegada de la luz.
«As she relived the rapid approach of this light, she screamed in what seemed to be a mixture of fear, release, and awe. “I’m being baptized in this light,” which is “going to take me,” she cried, “a wash of light, and it’s all knowledge. It’s Home. It’s Essence.”» — lo que gritó al revivirla, con el bautismo puesto por ella y la mezcla de miedo, alivio y asombro anotada por el autor.
«Her words at this point became somewhat incoherent, filled with metaphor, as she tried to convey what was for her a kind of ecstatic spiritual epiphany. What follows is a sample.» — la advertencia del autor sobre lo que sigue: palabras incoherentes y llenas de metáfora, de las que publica una muestra.
«There are moments of time that are like breaths in the wind, and each of these moments is a life.» — de la muestra que el autor publica: los momentos como respiraciones en el viento, cada uno una vida.
«This is communion. This is gestation. This is Myself that I’m meeting [crying again]. . . . This is a mirror to my soul.» — el punto en que Karin dice encontrarse consigo misma; el corchete con el llanto lo pone el autor.
«He resonated very deeply, very wisely, and I couldn’t see his face.”» — lo que Karin dice del ser con hábito: otro nivel energético que el de los demás, y sin rostro visible.
«He took her to a another place, where she remembered standing in a kind of odd spread-out position.» — adónde la llevó, y en qué postura dice haberse encontrado. La partición del artículo es de la fuente.
«A powerful force of light and vibration seemed to explode and rip through her like “the force of water coming out of a dam. Water doesn’t even describe it.”» — la fuerza que describe, con la comparación con la presa que ella misma declara insuficiente.
«As this force tore through her, she felt as if she would be knocked over backward, and she sensed that she was becoming smaller and smaller.» — lo que sintió con esa fuerza atravesándola.
«She was taken through a tunnel and found herself “in Presence,” where there were no walls or rooms but “just light, like being in the core.” In this moment she felt “there is nothing more than this.”» — adónde llegó, en sus palabras: sin muros ni cuartos, solo luz.
«The ripping sensation continued in the tunnel, Karin explained, and it seemed as if some sort of adhesive that bound her to her body was torn through by the energy or resonation she experienced.» — lo que esa energía deshizo, según Karin: una especie de adhesivo que la ataba al cuerpo.
«What made this particularly difficult, beyond the discomfort that she felt, was that she was given an opportunity to stay in that “place,” stay out of her body, and not complete her earthly mission.» — y lo que le hizo difícil el trance: la ofrecieron quedarse fuera del cuerpo y no cumplir su misión terrena.
«It felt like a cruel choice, but she chose to come back. “» — la elección que ella califica de cruel, y lo que decidió; el detalle del cuarto de la nave es suyo.
«After this experience she found that her intuitive empathy for others seemed to increase.» — lo que Karin notó después.
«When Karin is with her mentor/guide, “he speaks to the One inside of me that is One of us, that is One of them” and “resonates with my soul vibration.”» — cómo describe la comunicación con su mentor.
«He tells her that on the plane of his existence, they do not experience “the ecstasy of love that you do, but we experience something that resonates of Home and safety.”» — lo que ese guía le dice sobre el amor en el plano de él: no éxtasis, sino algo que resuena a Hogar y a seguridad.
«passionate moments that do not have any consistency, so it comes in explosive bursts and leaves in draining pain.» — y el juicio que le hace al amor humano, que llama inseguro.
«(Sharon remarked similarly that the alien beings seemed to know “love without all the stickiness that we have.”)» — el autor añade entre paréntesis la observación paralela de Sharon.
«The communications carried a specific personal meaning for Karin, as it occurred when she was working through the pain of a recent broken love relationship.» — el autor sitúa esas comunicaciones en la biografía de Karin, en medio de un desamor reciente.
«She experiences the love that comes from Source as “a resonance inside my body.”» — cómo experimenta ella el amor que viene de la Fuente.
«It is unconditional and cannot be killed.» — los dos rasgos que le atribuye.
«“I’m always in this love,” she says, and no matter how much pain she is in, “that makes me know I can’t commit suicide.”» — y lo que ese amor le impide, dicho por ella.
«Abductees seem always to live in the paradox of their human individuality and separateness from Source while at the same time experiencing a sense of wholeness or oneness in an unfathomable reality.» — el autor formula la paradoja en que dice que viven: individualidad separada y a la vez sensación de unidad.
«there is “the perspective of being separate from them, an object-subject, object» — cómo lo dice Eva, con la lista de nombres que ella misma deja abierta; la palabra queda partida por el corte de línea.
«But at the same time, “there is a very close connection” and “a feeling of wholeness” and completion.» — y el otro lado de la paradoja en sus palabras.
«“There is no separation between me and the space.» — hasta dónde lo lleva Eva.
«When abductees are so able, either through their own efforts or with the help of a facilitator who can be with them through the extreme emotions and intense energies that accompany their passage to connection or reconnection with the creative Source, they go through an awakening at every level of their being.» — la condición que el autor pone para ese despertar, con el papel del facilitador dentro.
«These changes are sometimes corroborated by relatives and friends.» — y el único respaldo externo que consigna: lo que dicen parientes y amigos.
«Nona feels that her experiences have brought about a great sense of openness, “a total awareness,”» — lo que Nona dice haber ganado.
«Sue’s experiences, she feels certain, have “changed the way I think. I am more tolerant.» — lo que Sue dice de sí misma, con el reconocimiento de cómo era antes.
«They’re like little universes. They’re asleep, and we wake them up.» — lo que Andrea sitúa en el nivel celular.
«Each cell has a memory, and each memory can tell us how to move energy and become more connected to each other.”» — y lo que le atribuye a cada célula.
«Karin speaks of her experiences as “not only life-preserving but life» — la fórmula de Karin, partida por el corte de línea.
«Everything that you get is about moving forward, moving forward, moving forward, expanding, expanding, expanding, expanding. You open and you open and you open. This is the awakening, this is the flower, unfolding. This is what the becoming is.”» — la continuación, con la insistencia de la repetición y la flor abriéndose.
«Concomitantly experiencers know that their capacity for love, compassion, caring, and service to others has grown.» — lo que el autor pone al lado de esa expansión.
«With the opening of her consciousness, Andrea says, comes “unconditional love, acceptance,” and a sense of responsibility for “taking care of everything,” especially children.» — lo que Andrea dice que llega con esa apertura, y el objeto de esa responsabilidad.
«According to Isabel, at least some of the beings seem to find our evolutionary struggles quite funny.» — lo que Isabel atribuye a al menos algunos de esos seres.
«We think this is all so serious. This isn’t serious to them.» — la asimetría que ella marca: para nosotros es serio, para ellos no.
«He thought it was funny that I didn’t know it was him all along,” and “that we had known each other for thousands of years.» — el episodio en que un ser se rió y ella lo reconoció por la risa.
«As we saw in chapter 7, the process of becoming or expanding consciousness is often expressed in the language of birth, as in Julie’s idea of interdimensional “delivery,” Catherine’s vivid recounting of actually being born at the beginning of a previous life, Dave’s passage through “birthing canals” from one level of reality to another, and the prominence of tubes, cylinders, tunnels, and so on as symbols of passageways from one place or domain to another.» — el autor reúne el léxico de nacimiento que atraviesa los relatos: la entrega interdimensional de Julie, el parto recordado por Catherine, los canales de parto de Dave y los tubos y túneles como pasadizos.
«Karin speaks of how consciousness itself appears to “birth its way into the understanding that it’s not separated.”» — cómo describe Karin lo que hace la consciencia misma.
«There is literally another birth that you go through that is the awareness and the awakening to ‘this is my existence.’”» — y el segundo nacimiento que ella declara literal.
«while decrying the choice of death through suicide made by the followers of Marshall Applegate.» — el autor consigna que Karin condena el suicidio de los seguidores de Heaven's Gate; la fuente escribe Marshall Applegate, y ese apellido no aparece de otro modo en la obra.
«Karin compares her rebirth to emerging from a chrysalis. Karin, Isabel, and others think of us as developing, seeking, and healing with God. Using the imagery of disease and health, Karin suggests that we are a part of God that is “infected.”» — la crisálida y la imagen médica con que Karin nos sitúa como parte enferma de Dios.
«The abduction phenomenon is “surgery. That’s what it is. This isn’t about annihilation. This is about birth and about growth and about healing.”» — y a qué equipara entonces el fenómeno.
«Many abductees report that their experiences have awakened in them powerful psychic gifts, such as unusual intuitive capacities, healing abilities, and clairvoyance.» — el autor consigna que muchos declaran dones psíquicos nuevos: intuición, curación, clarividencia.
«Carol, for example, speaks of developing “extreme perceptive abilities.”» — la fórmula de Carol para lo suyo.
«Isabel believes that these powers are already present in us but that, especially in our culture, we have shut down and lost touch with them.» — la lectura de Isabel: esos poderes ya están y la cultura los cerró.
«But it’s almost like you guys at the top are just beginning to learn about it.”» — su reproche, dicho al autor con la asimetría entre gente común y gente de arriba.
«It seems to her as if “the more educated you get in a way, the more your spirituality closes off.”» — y su hipótesis sobre la educación, rematada con la frase de su padre sobre los tontos educados.
«Isabel’s perceptions have become so sensitive that when she hears water running or the wind blowing, it can sound like “a whole bunch of voices singing at the same time, really beautiful music.”» — lo que Isabel dice oír en el agua y el viento.
«She feels that she can actually hear other people’s thoughts, but she has not “fine-tuned” this capacity because “you could really intrude on someone that way.”» — lo que dice poder oír de los demás, y por qué no lo ha afinado.
«Her possession of these abilities has convinced her “that we are all connected” and of the energetic power of thoughts.» — lo que esas capacidades la han convencido, según ella.
«I have not written much of these matters in this book, except in passing. This is one of the areas that does lend itself to objective study and verification, but research has yet to be undertaken.» — el autor reconoce no haber tratado eso en el libro, y señala que es justo lo que sí admitiría estudio objetivo; la investigación, dice, está sin hacer.
«Abductees frequently feel that the process of transformation that is so powerful and immediate for them personally is part of, or even heralds, a collective shift in human consciousness and behavior.» — el autor consigna que la transformación individual se siente como parte de un cambio colectivo.
«Carol feels that the abduction phenomenon has to do with “an evolution of consciousness for all of us.”» — lo que Carol ve en el fenómeno, con la aclaración que le hace al autor: no solo para quienes lo pasan.
«“Everyone who’s experienced it has to go through it and recognize it and accept it because it affects and will affect everybody here,” she told us.» — y la obligación que ella deriva de eso.
«Even Jim Sparks expressed the hope that the abductees’ experiences would somehow help humanity to“grow in this galactic neighborhood and become more of an aware part of it.”» — la esperanza que Jim Sparks pone en ello, en clave de vecindario galáctico.
«Andrea, like Carol, foresees “a big shift in consciousness that’s coming. Everyone’s drawn to self-awareness,” she notes, “but you have to be out of your denial in order to help yourself, in order to do the grounding work.”» — lo que Andrea añade sobre la condición para ese cambio.
«Isabel has tried to meditate only once, she told me, but her consciousness was so porous» — la única vez que Isabel dice haber meditado; la frase queda partida por el corte de plana.
«over the Earth.” She heard the voices or otherwise felt connected with people from Australia, South America, Alaska, and other countries. All the voices, male and female, seemed to be talking at once, telling her “we’re all brethren.” “Oh my God, what’s going on here?” she asked herself, and was so upset that she never meditated again.» — lo que oyó entonces, y por qué no volvió a meditar.
«“This stuff is taken as mythology,” she protested, but “that’s not mythology. It’s what’s happening.”» — la objeción de Isabel al rótulo de mitología para lo que lee en otras culturas.
«“I seem to be in tune with animals and trees and the water and even the air,” she observed.» — y hasta dónde llega esa apertura, según ella.
«Beyond the general notion of a shift of consciousness, abductees, as we have seen, can be more specifically preoccupied with what the future holds, often having experienced visions of what is to come (see chapter 5).» — el autor pasa de lo general al futuro, que dice que preocupa de manera específica a los experienciantes.
«Not surprisingly there is very little agreement among experiencers about how the future will turn out, and some inconsistency on the part of individuals, although the impact of what they have encountered in their travels can be quite intense.» — y consigna el desacuerdo entre ellos, más la inconsistencia de cada uno.
«Isabel, for example, was shown in a dream that the Earth in its present form would be gone in a few years, and she asserted that this was the way it will be.» — lo que Isabel dijo primero, a partir de un sueño.
«But a few weeks later she told me that her notion of the future had changed, and she no longer believed it was predetermined or “set.”» — y lo que dijo unas semanas después: el futuro maleable, como gel.
«The important thing was that people like herself, who had learned the ability to travel into the future, might have the ability to change it, “so that’s a pretty heavy responsibility.”» — la responsabilidad que ella deriva de poder viajar al futuro.
«The abduction experiences, she felt, are a way of educating people “about spirituality” and “about other realities,” to pre pare them for the future.» — la función que Isabel les asigna; la partición de la palabra es del reflujo.
«Andrea puts her faith and trust in God, but then she is a bit unsure as to whether He is creating the shift or “we’re all going to create” it.» — la duda de Andrea sobre quién hace el cambio.
«In the end she seems “okay” with the idea that “it’s all an amazing adventure,” and that “God and the Universe don’t necessarily know either.”» — y hasta dónde la lleva: ni Dios ni el universo saben tampoco.
«But then she wonders how “we’re going to hold on as a race with our limited brain capacity.”» — y la preocupación que le queda sobre la capacidad cerebral de la especie.
«He attributes his positive outlook to his conviction that “we’re incredibly loving here on this planet.”» — la razón que da Greg para su optimismo.
«All in all, Julie says, the abduction phenomenon is part of “a spiritual emergence” that is “easing humanity up the ladder a little.”» — cómo lo resume Julie.
«The abduction experiences affect profoundly the experiencers’ sense of who or what they are as beings in the cosmos.» — el autor sitúa el efecto en el terreno de la identidad.
«Their transformation, which they attribute directly to their encounters with the infinite or the creative Source, is often expressed in the ecstatic language generally associated with mysticism or other experiences of transcendence.» — y consigna el registro en que se dice: el del misticismo.
«Speaking at a board meeting of our Center, Karin told the group that her spiritual transformation had occurred because she had come “face to face with the infinite,” before which she had humbled herself.» — lo que Karin dijo ante el consejo directivo del centro del autor.
«The encounters had made her “one with the Earth and whole,” she said.» — y el saldo que declara.
«She had come to feel that she too was an infinite being, “connected to all that is.”» — hasta dónde lo lleva ella.
«Sometimes abductees’ spiritual epiphanies are associated with a singular experience; more often encounters over time bring about these dramatic shifts of consciousness and identity.» — el autor distingue la epifanía única del cambio acumulado a lo largo de muchos encuentros.
«Out of these experiences they often come to feel an aching oneness with nature in all its beauty and pain.» — y lo que dice que suele quedar: una unidad dolorosa con la naturaleza, en su belleza y en su daño.
«At PEER’s Star Wisdom conference in May 1998, which brought experiencers and abduction researchers together with indigenous shamans and Western scientists, Sequoyah performed a sacred pipe ceremony “given to us by native elders and also so-called extraterrestrials,”» — la conferencia Star Wisdom de PEER en mayo de 1998, y la procedencia doble que Trueblood declara para la ceremonia de la pipa.
«This viewpoint, so wide spread among indigenous peoples, is more unusual in Western societies. It is one that abductees frequently come to share.» — el autor marca el contraste cultural: común entre pueblos originarios, raro en Occidente, y adoptado a menudo por los experienciantes.
«While sitting in a coffee shop, one day, it occurred to Julie that she herself was “an eternal body of light” and that this life was unimportant compared to what is unseen, that all is timeless and endless, and “I’m eternal and here forever, although not in this form.”» — lo que se le ocurrió a Julie en una cafetería.
«During one of Nona’s encounters, she had an out-of-body experience, which she felt the beings engineered for the specific purpose of showing her that she, and we, are beings of spirit and of “glowing light” or “light force.”» — la experiencia extracorporal de Nona, que ella atribuye a un propósito didáctico de esos seres.
«Abductees learn not to separate spirit from the physical body, as is so common in Western religious traditions.» — lo que el autor dice que aprenden, contra la costumbre religiosa occidental.
«Eva called her “impregnation” experience (discussed on pages 136–138) “an experience of the spiritualization of matter.”» — cómo llamó Eva a su experiencia de impregnación.
«It was, she said, “about being fully in the body, being fully grounded, fully being present and aware of the body, the physical body, and feeling ecstasy and feeling spirit.”» — y qué entiende por eso, con el cuerpo en el centro.
«Five months after her dramatic session in which she experienced intense and ecstatic vibratory sensations in her body (see pages 81–84), Abby recalled “feeling heightened and open” during the regression.» — el marco temporal de lo que Abby escribió después.
«I traveled beyond conscious reality as I knew it,” she wrote, “while retrieving details of my memories. During that journey I experienced an ineffable moment of total merging.» — lo que escribió Abby; el mismo texto abre el capítulo 12 como epígrafe, con una variante de una palabra.
«It is as if I was given a glimpse of my/our potential.”» — el cierre de esa nota, donde la versión del cuerpo difiere del epígrafe.
«When they no longer deny their experiences and confront them honestly, abductees tend to lose their fear of death.» — lo que el autor consigna sobre el miedo a la muerte cuando dejan de negar lo vivido.
«There is no death,” Isabel said after an experience in which she felt she made contact with her son, who had been killed in an automobile accident a year before.» — lo que dijo Isabel tras un contacto con su hijo muerto un año antes en un accidente.
«Physical death “is just a transition. You change from one thing to another, from one form into another, but there is no end and there is no beginning. It just is.”» — y qué entiende ella por muerte física.
«Similarly Karin has come to believe that “death is nothing more than the death-of-the-flesh thing. It’s of the shell. . . . To me death is an irrelevant term, because there is no death. It’s just the body terminates itself.”» — la versión de Karin, con la muerte reducida a término irrelevante.
«They may feel so identified with the beings that when they are “resonating” in the consciousness of the other realm, they sometimes feel that they are aliens or have a dual human/alien identity.» — el autor consigna la identidad doble que algunos declaran cuando resuenan en la consciencia del otro plano.
«I’m a gray in my soul,” Karin says. Whereas they may have had a vague sense all their lives that they were not from here, now they feel pain and anger that they spend most of their time separated from the beings and God or Source.» — la fórmula de Karin, y el enojo que el autor le atribuye al conjunto de experienciantes.
«Karin’s original first name was Deborah (see page 50), which came to stand for her three-dimensional or Earth-bound existence, while Karin was her truer, soul name. Similarly Will called himself Billy when refer ring to himself in his Earth body.» — los dos nombres de Karin y los dos de Will, con el reparto entre el plano terreno y el del alma.
«At a practical level, experiencers may find it difficult to adjust to the harshness of everyday life in this culture, or this “vibrational plane,” as they» — el costo práctico, y el nombre que ellos dan a este plano; la frase queda partida por el corte de plana.
«They may find it hard to stay in routine jobs in the commercial marketplace and tend to gravitate toward jobs in the healing or human service» — a qué oficios tienden, según el autor.
«Marriages can become strained, especially if the spouse is not an abductee and cannot share the shifts in consciousness.» — y el efecto sobre los matrimonios cuando la pareja no comparte el cambio.
«Eva says that when she is fully in “the space” of her experiences, “it really doesn’t matter what happens with my marriage.”» — lo que Eva dice mientras está del todo en ese espacio.
«But when she “drops into the physical level, or the human perspective, I go, ‘Aaaaah! [screaming] How am I going to survive? How am I going to make ends meet, and what will happen to my kids?’ I need to be in all spaces because just going to the higher levels is a form of escape.”» — y lo que dice al caer al plano físico, con la autocrítica incluida: subir a los niveles altos es una forma de escape.
«Experiencers frequently feel a strong urge to teach or share with other people what they have learned during their journeys, and they may even feel that they have been told to do this directly by the beings.» — el impulso de enseñar que el autor consigna, y de dónde dicen algunos que viene.
«“They told me to be a teacher,” Andrea says.» — la versión de Andrea.
«Rarely if ever does a TV or radio broadcast or newspaper article present the issue accurately or knowledgeably.» — lo que el autor dice de la cobertura mediática.
«Programs usually stress the sensational, bizarre, or arcane aspects or, in the name of balance, give air time to uninformed debunkers, usually misnamed “skeptics,” who speak from an ideological bias, putting their viewpoints forth as a scientific perspective.» — y su reproche al rótulo de escépticos para los que llama desacreditadores sin información.
«Experiencers may feel all right themselves about appearing in public but be concerned that their spouses or other loved ones will suffer embarrassment.» — el temor que el autor consigna, y que no es por ellos mismos.
«Abductees who have appeared in the media have been threatened in their jobs, if not fired, or been compromised professionally in other ways.» — el costo laboral y profesional, en el balance del autor.
«Nevertheless, they usually feel a responsibility to share their experiences and knowledge, and an increasing number are speaking at conferences or appearing in the media and seem to be having an effect in legitimizing the subject and awakening people to the significance of the abduction phenomenon.» — y aun así, lo que hacen: hablar en congresos y en medios, con efecto de legitimación.
«Karin, for example, calls her responsibility for talking about her experiences, and what she has learned from them, “full discipleship to Source.”» — cómo llama Karin a esa responsabilidad.
«People want this,” she said.“ I find that they are like really dry sponges.» — cómo describe a su público.
«Karin was able to establish so much trust and interest at her work that the owners invited us to present an “Alien Night at The Thirsty Scholar.”» — la velada que los dueños del bar donde trabajaba Karin les propusieron; el autor consigna que hablaron a unos ciento cincuenta clientes.
«Karin has observed that when she talks about herself and can “be myself,” people “find themselves in you.”» — lo que Karin nota cuando habla de sí misma.
«Isabel, who is less comfortable with sharing her experiences, said something similar: “I bond with someone to give something of me to them, so they can understand where I’m coming from, so they can eventually share what I’m sharing.» — lo que Isabel, menos cómoda con contarlo, dice de ese mismo mecanismo.
«I have been working with two Jewish experiencers who are finding ways to revive a sense of the sacred and breathe new life into this ancient tradition.» — el autor consigna que dos de sus experienciantes judías están rehaciendo desde ahí su tradición.
«Another woman, whose experiences have not been shared elsewhere in this book, has been studying Jewish tradition with a rabbi, who also uses the Kabbala as a vehicle for developing contemporary Judaism.» — la segunda de ellas, cuyo caso el autor declara no tratado en ninguna otra parte del libro, estudia con un rabino que usa la cábala para un judaísmo contemporáneo.
«At first she did not tell him of her experiences, but they have brought about in her a deep understanding of the vital core of her religion.» — lo que ella calló al principio, y lo que sus experiencias le devolvieron de su religión.
«The rabbi tells her that he is now learning from her and that she is bringing new light to the original “container” of Jewish orthodoxy.» — lo que el rabino le dice, según el autor: que aprende de ella y que trae luz nueva al recipiente original de la ortodoxia.
«Perhaps a fuller appreciation of the spiritual power of the abduction encounters will bring new vitality to other religious traditions as well.» — la extrapolación del autor a otras tradiciones religiosas, en potencial.
«In the last few years, I have been increasingly impressed with the fact that as abductees experience a reconnection with Source, something profound occurs in the relationship between the experiencers and the beings themselves.» — lo que el autor dice haber notado en los últimos años sobre la relación misma entre experienciantes y seres.
«It is possible that the capacity to form more profound or transcendent relationships, not only with alien beings but at all levels, might be the direction in which the phenomenon ultimately leads.» — y hasta dónde lo lleva: quizá la capacidad de relación más honda sea la dirección a la que apunta todo el fenómeno.
«Wonders happen if we can succeed in passing through the harshest danger; but only in a bright and purely granted achievement can we realize the wonder.» — primera parte del epígrafe del capítulo 13, de Rainer Maria Rilke.
«Take your practiced powers and stretch them out until they span the chasm between two contradictions. . . . For the god wants to know himself in you.» — cierre del mismo epígrafe de Rilke, con el dios que quiere conocerse en uno.
«Human life is lived in relationships—to one another and to other creatures, to the Earth and to God, or to a higher power or to whatever creative intelligence we may experience as residing in nature and the cosmos.» — el marco con que el autor abre el capítulo.
«These include the variability of closeness and distance, of comfort and fear; opportunities for misunderstanding that grow out of difference and egocentrism (certainly on the human side); and finally an arena for growth, self-knowledge, and evolution to another level of purpose and consciousness.» — lo que atribuye a toda relación, incluida ésta: cercanía y distancia variables, malentendido por diferencia y egocentrismo —del lado humano, acota— y un terreno de crecimiento.
«Indeed, the intense but highly specific, consistently reported, terrible, awkward, or sometimes poignant qualities that characterize the human/alien relation ships contribute greatly to my conviction that the phenomenon itself is in some way real, not simply the product of the imagination or subjective experience of the abductee.» — y por qué esas cualidades lo persuaden de que el fenómeno es real de algún modo, y no producto de la imaginación del experienciante.
«once the fears associated with this strange connection are confronted and transcended, relationships between human beings and the “others” can reach emotional, sensual, and spiritual intensities and depths that exceed anything with which I am familiar in human relationships.» — lo que el capítulo se propone mostrar, con el término de comparación puesto en su propia experiencia.
«Much of the power of the relationship occurs through contact with the beings’ extraordinary eyes, which will be discussed in detail in the last part of this chapter.» — dónde sitúa el autor el grueso de esa fuerza.
«I am increasingly persuaded that a deeper understanding of the nature and power of the human/alien connection will lead us closer to knowing the mystery and source of the phenomenon itself.» — y qué espera de entenderla.
«I have come gradually to the view that it is the fundamental foreignness of these “strange beings,” our almost total inability to understand in human terms what they are up to, that more than anything else brings about the terror that the abductees and the rest of us experience in relation to them.» — la tesis a la que el autor dice haber llegado despacio: lo que produce el terror es la extrañeza de fondo y la incapacidad de entender en términos humanos qué se traen.
«Trying to understand the abduction phenomenon has brought home to me how much, as human beings, we perceive everything around us from the standpoint of our own values and ways of thinking.» — lo que el trabajo le enseñó sobre nuestro propio modo de mirar.
«“We look at everything as good and bad,” Isabel says. “We look at things and think, ‘Oh my God, how horrible!’ But that’s because we’re looking at it through these eyes.» — la formulación de Isabel sobre ese sesgo, con el reproche a mirar por estos ojos.
«Similarly, abductees often perceive the beings as simply cold and indifferent. As Credo Mutwa suggests,“These beings are not cold. It’s only that they’ve got feelings that we don’t even imagine.”» — el autor recoge la corrección de Mutwa a la lectura de frialdad.
«It seems also, at times, that it is the beings’ fear of us that causes them to use paralysis and the other means of controlling our violence that abductees experience as so disturbing.» — la hipótesis inversa que el autor deja abierta: que la parálisis venga del miedo de ellos a nuestra violencia.
«As Andrea came to realize, “The problem with us is that we’re aggressive. We have anger, but we haven’t learned how to transform it.» — y lo que Andrea dice haber comprendido sobre la agresividad humana.
«the aliens perceive our passionate and contingent way of loving, even when it is heart centered, as “unsafe” or “sticky,” while their love, in Karin’s words, “resonates of Home and safety.”» — el autor recuerda cómo ven ellos nuestro amor, según Karin: inseguro y pegajoso, frente al suyo que resuena a Hogar.
«Greg spoke of a “lack of caring” and the rapelike nature of his experiences.» — lo que Greg dice de los procedimientos; el autor acota entre paréntesis que hasta llamarlos procedimientos es ya una interpretación.
«For Will it was not knowing “when they’re going to make the connection” that enraged him and felt so violating.» — y lo que enfurecía a Will: no saber cuándo harían la conexión.
«Among the children in Zimbabwe whom I interviewed in 1994, the reactions to the dramatic encounter ranged from a kind of nervous fascination and attraction to great terror, depending upon how uneasy the child was with the mysterious nature of what occurred. One child called the beings “evil” purely on the basis of their otherness, even though nothing untoward had occurred (also Kay Leigh’s experience, see page 281).» — el abanico de reacciones entre los niños de Zimbabue en 1994, con el caso del que llamó malignos a los seres solo por su otredad, sin que hubiera pasado nada.
«It appears sometimes to be the strangeness and our lack of power and control, more than any real harm or physical pain that may have occurred, that at least initially gives the human/alien relationship such an adversarial or traumatic cast.» — el autor sitúa el origen del carácter adversarial en la extrañeza y la falta de control, más que en el daño real.
«As has so often happened in human history, something that seems to threaten us from outside, or challenges a worldview, tends to be perceived as demonic, which of course has provided the television and film industries with almost limitless commercial opportunities.» — y el precedente histórico que le pone: lo que amenaza desde fuera se lee como demoníaco, con la industria del entretenimiento aprovechando.
«Sue’s religious background led her to consider that perhaps her initial fear was of “demon possession.”» — lo que la formación religiosa de Sue la llevó a considerar.
«She was helped to reject this notion when a voice said to her, as she was waking up one morning, “You are like children of the universe, and fear is used as a manipulative tool.”» — y la voz que, según ella, la sacó de ahí al despertar una mañana.
«When abductees face the terror and unknown quality of the abduction experiences directly, the disturbing nature tends to give way to something altogether different, and their relationship with the beings changes, sometimes dramatically.» — lo que el autor dice que ocurre al encarar el terror de frente.
«Julie confronted her terror and uncertainty directly, without, at least at first, much support.» — el caso de Julie, que lo hizo casi sin apoyo.
«She told me, six years after we began to work together, that she had come to feel part of a “vanguard.”» — y cómo se sitúa ella seis años después.
«Others demand— sometimes angrily, as in Catherine’s case (Mack 1995, chap. 7), and may be granted—a more reciprocal relationship.» — otra vía: exigir reciprocidad, a veces con enojo, como en el caso de Catherine que el autor remite a su propio libro de 1995.
«As we saw in chapter 11, Isabel confronted the threat that the beings presented by “throwing positive energy” or “waves of love at them.”» — lo que Isabel hizo, en el vocabulario de ella.
«This seemed to jolt even an angry reptilian creature, and it changed its image from reptilian to a typical, bald-headed, bluish “regular gray” and then to a human-looking figure.» — y el efecto que el autor describe: la imagen del ser cambiando de reptiliana a gris y luego a humana.
«Karin found that her encounters on the ships enabled her to send out with dramatic effect healing love energies to peo ple in pain around her in the pub restaurant where she worked.» — lo que Karin dice haber podido hacer en el bar donde trabajaba.
«Once the abductees have overcome their fear, at least to some degree, they may come to an awareness that the relationship with the beings is an ancient one.» — el autor consigna lo que aparece al ceder el miedo: la conciencia de que la relación es antigua.
«When she allowed herself to look closely at the face and body of a familiar being, Karin thought to herself, “I have known this one forever.”» — lo que Karin pensó al mirar de cerca a un ser familiar.
«The mantindane, Credo told us, will “follow you,” not only in this life “but through all lifetimes.”» — lo que Mutwa dice de los mantindane en ese mismo registro.
«Isabel feels that“I was with them before I was here . . . I always was working with them, and I’m just becoming aware of it now.» — y la versión de Isabel, con el alcance en vidas y no solo en años.
«Abductees report that the relationship with the beings in this lifetime changes as they grow from childhood into adolescence and adulthood.» — el autor consigna que la relación cambia con la edad del experienciante.
«As children, they may assign them names from the entertainment culture of childhood, like Muppet figures, clowns, spacemen, midgets, and the like.» — los nombres que le ponen de niños, tomados de la cultura de entretenimiento.
«Adults tend to recall the childhood relationship as pleasant and fun and the beings as friendly playmates, although many children have been observed by their parents to be afraid of the beings at night.» — la memoria adulta de esa etapa, con la observación de los padres que la contradice en parte.
«Later, as we have seen, the relationship takes on more serious, sometimes disturbing, reproductive, informational, and transformational, directions.» — y hacia dónde deriva después.
«Andrea remembers that when she was little, “they were teaching me these energy games, and it was absolutely wonderful, and then something happened.» — lo que Andrea recuerda de niña, y el corte que marca.
«Similarly, Carol said that “whatever visited me as a child is probably the most wonderful relationship I’ve ever had.”» — lo que dice Carol de esa misma etapa.
«Sometimes, as in Joseph’s case, the experiencer may recall being paired as a child with an alien or hybrid being who will later become a mate or partner.» — y el caso de Joseph, emparejado de niño con quien luego sería su pareja.
«The difficulty of knowing the actual quality of the childhood relationship with the beings may be compounded by a particular child’s need to maintain the feeling of trust no matter what seems to be occurring.» — la dificultad que el autor señala para juzgar la calidad de esa relación infantil: el niño necesita sostener la confianza pase lo que pase.
«Will recalled in a relaxation session a disturbing experience from when he was six years old.» — la sesión en que Will recordó un episodio de sus seis años.
«He felt blind trust of a tall, “milky white” leader figure whom he called “the One Who Knows,” a being for him with quite godlike qualities.» — la figura en la que Will dice haber confiado a ciegas, y el nombre que le da.
«Nevertheless, this figure seemed on one occasion to turn him over to the little ones he called “workers” or “drones” (“I would have squashed them. I still resent them”), who had “no receptor within them” and with whom communication seemed impossible.» — y a quiénes lo entregó esa figura, con el rencor de Will hacia ellos entre paréntesis.
«Will recalled feeling frightened and abandoned as a “wiggly” filament he called an “implant” was threaded into his penis while he lay on a table paralyzed. “They’re leaving some thing in me so I know I’ll never be alone again,” he remarked.» — el procedimiento que Will recuerda, y la lectura que él mismo le da al implante.
«Although he recalled the experience as an emotionally scarring one, Will refused to blame or resent the leader figure.» — pese a lo que califica de cicatriz emocional, Will se niega a culpar a la figura del líder; el autor consigna que llega a llamar mentira lo que aquel le dijo y aun así se detiene antes de la traición.
«Will wondered if perhaps his trust in the connection was being “tested” by the temporary separation from the tall white being, and he became angry and upset with me when I suggested he might have felt resentment toward this figure.» — la hipótesis de Will —una prueba de confianza— y el enojo que le provocó que el autor le sugiriera resentimiento. El desacuerdo con el clínico queda impreso.
«After all, Will protested, the connection was reestablished after the traumatic procedure, and he even seemed to blame the six-year-old’s rage for whatever threat to the relationship had occurred.» — el argumento de Will, hasta culpar a la rabia del niño de seis años.
«No matter what the frustration, the anger, the fear, nothing is worth jeopardizing or losing that connection,” Will proclaimed.» — su conclusión.
«Would I do it again? Yes. Did I do it again? Yes. Do I trust him? Yes.” For “he’s the one I am connected with. He’s the one that understands everything about me, and there is an understanding that surpasses anything I can explain right now.» — y la ratificación con que la cierra.
«Will explained. “I want to be one with them, with him, with it.”» — lo que Will dice querer al final de ese tramo.
«After they overcome their fear, the experiencers may come to realize that the beings have played a teaching, mentoring, guiding, or guardian role for them in this and other lifetimes.» — el papel que el autor dice que reconocen en esos seres una vez vencido el miedo.
«We even once called them gods, Isabel believes, but our estrangement from them has led us to call them “aliens.”» — lo que Isabel supone sobre el cambio de nombre a lo largo del tiempo, y a qué lo atribuye: al extrañamiento.
«She feels as if “I’m in a partnership with them. They give me the feeling of powerfulness.» — cómo describe ella su vínculo actual con ellos.
«Experiencers often report that the examinationlike procedures they have undergone represent some sort of health-monitoring and -maintenance program on the part of the aliens. Whether this is for our benefit, or to keep our organs healthy so that the beings might use them for their own purposes later, as some experiencers have suggested (see chapter 6), is one of the questions that seem to depend, in part, upon how we choose to interpret the phenomenon.» — el programa de vigilancia sanitaria que muchos les atribuyen, y la pregunta que el autor deja abierta sobre a beneficio de quién.
«Be that as it may, Isabel says that she trusts her principal alien teacher with her life and “with my kids’ lives.” Sometimes there is a female being with him. “She sings to me. She touches my face sometimes, and I feel their presence all the time.”» — la confianza que Isabel declara en su maestro alienígena, y la figura femenina que a veces lo acompaña.
«Isabel attributes her excellent health and apparent immunity to colds and other illnesses to the alien health-monitoring program.» — a qué atribuye ella su salud.
«As “a loving parent would talk to a child,” the beings warn her about smoking and other dangers to her health.» — el registro de esas advertencias, en el símil que ella usa.
«They even instruct her about what to eat or not eat and where to go, whom to meet with or avoid, and where to find things she has lost.» — y su alcance práctico, hasta encontrar objetos perdidos.
«They also teach her how to“scan” people, and how to use the “energy field around me to protect myself against negative energies of other people trying to drain energy from» — lo que dice que le enseñan a hacer con el campo de energía; la frase queda partida por el corte de plana.
«As experiencers become more fully accepting of the beings’ presence in their lives, they come to appreciate a deeper affinity and identification with them. Karin calls this a “symbiosis.” Abductees discover that humans and the beings have common roots, but, as we saw in the last chapter, we have lost contact with that Source.» — el autor consigna la afinidad más honda que aparece después, y el nombre que Karin le da.
«I do believe we all came from the same place,” Isabel says, “and at one time we were, like brother and sister, all related.”» — el origen común que Isabel afirma.
«One of the beings’ jobs appears to be to help us remember where we came from and who we are, to bring back to us “memory of Source” so that we may “start listening to our own spirits. Our spirits tell us everything we need to know. But we don’t recognize our own voices anymore. We don’t recognize the voice of the Source anymore.”» — la tarea que Isabel les asigna: devolvernos la memoria de la Fuente, porque ya no reconocemos ni nuestra propia voz.
«When abductees are enabled to move beyond their fears and self-protective defensive attitudes, a consistent and quite moving empathy for the beings may develop.» — el autor consigna la empatía que aparece al pasar el miedo.
«This can start as an appreciation for what the creatures appear to lack and may progress to a loving bond of remarkable proportions.» — y por dónde empieza esa empatía: por apreciar lo que a esos seres les falta.
«Whatever this phenomenon is,” she said, “you have to be part of it. It can’t progress unless you allow it to progress.”» — lo que Sue decidió al vencer su miedo, y la condición que pone al fenómeno.
«Although the beings have “tremendous psychic ability, tremendous healing ability,” Andrea said, and fell silent.» — lo que Andrea les reconoce, antes de callarse; el autor consigna el silencio.
«Then she continued, “They’ve lost their home inside themselves. . . . they’ve evolved to something that’s not quite right, that has something lacking. Their heart centers are not as open as they should be. They have a feeling level that they’ve bred out.” They have become “just too practical.”» — y lo que dijo después: centros del corazón poco abiertos y un nivel de sentimiento criado fuera de ellos.
«Along similar lines, Isabel has noted that the beings seem to be love deprived, and seek “our love and our experience. I think they envy us,” especially our capacity for physical intimacy.» — lo que Isabel les atribuye: privación de amor y envidia de nuestra intimidad física.
«babies,” they might be able to “get enough human qualities.”» — el remedio que ella supone, con la palabra partida por el corte de línea en la cita anterior.
«Somehow the hybrids at least might be able to get enough nurturing, even vicariously, from the human mothers.» — y por qué vía, según ella: la crianza vicaria de las madres humanas.
«They are like starving children who are trying to break in with the other kids, the other babies who are being breast-fed.”» — la imagen con que Isabel lo dice.
«Isabel wonders if the beings might “remember what this felt like,” but paradoxically, when it comes to physical love and sensual experience, it seems to her they have moved farther away from the creative center than humans» — la paradoja que ella misma señala: en el amor físico están más lejos del centro creador que nosotros.
«Eleven-year-old Lisel in Zimbabwe had the strong impression that the being she saw needed love (see p. 283).» — el autor pone al lado la impresión de Lisel, de once años, en Zimbabue.
«Karin has also developed great empathy for the beings and notices “a huge sense of desperation about them.”» — lo que Karin percibe en ellos.
«They appear to feel as if they are “running out of time and want something that they can’t get fast enough.”» — y a qué lo atribuye: a que se les acaba el tiempo.
«When my hand comes out, there’s a connection, like they want the connection as much as we do.”» — el deseo mutuo que ella describe.
«Karin recalled a vision in which she saw her hand reaching out, and another hand reaching toward hers, rather like the hand reaching toward God in Michelangelo’s painting in the Sistine Chapel in the Vatican.» — la visión de las dos manos, que Karin empareja con el fresco de Miguel Ángel en la Capilla Sixtina.
«The beings also seem curious about parental and sexual love.» — la curiosidad que les atribuye por el amor de padres y el sexual.
«Several years ago I had a case where the beings were reported to stage sexual intercourse between humans on the ship and to watch intently, sometimes to the embarrassment of the participating couple.» — un caso anterior que el autor recuerda: coitos escenificados en la nave y observados de cerca.
«From all of this turmoil, confusion, and misunderstanding, powerful, sometimes transcendent connections form between human beings and the alien visitors that appear to grow out of mutual need.» — lo que el autor dice que sale de todo ese desorden: vínculos que brotan de una necesidad mutua.
«For the abductees the relationships seem to serve a desire for self-knowledge and for a less ego» — a qué sirve del lado humano; la palabra queda partida por el corte de línea.
«centered kind of cosmic love that takes them beyond their bodies to a sense of oneness with the creative Source.» — la continuación: un amor cósmico menos centrado en el yo.
«For the beings the contact seems to fulfill a hunger for nurturance and eroticism, lost or never before known, even for the experience of physicality itself.» — y a qué sirve, según el autor, del lado de ellos.
«The actuality and power of the relationship can be so intense that it seems to override ontological considerations, such as “where” all this is taking place.» — la fuerza que le atribuye a esa relación, hasta pasar por encima de dónde ocurre.
«Karin told us of an experience she had one night when she had gone to bed sensing with some distress that she “was going to have company in my room.”» — el episodio nocturno que Karin cuenta, y que el autor califica de conmovedor y hasta cómico.
«She recalls that she “tumbled” out of her body, and as she did so, she virtually fell “on top of a little gray guy in his natural out-of-body state.”» — lo que ocurrió al salir de su cuerpo.
«The being appeared to have no suit, and when it looked like it was startled, Karin sent out the message, “Please don’t run away.”» — el estado en que vio al ser, y lo que ella le mandó decir.
«Then in a “soft gesture” the being raised its head up to her and “nuzzled on my neck,” which felt like “little hamsters running around the back of my neck, a nice childhood warm connection.”» — el gesto del ser, con la comparación de los hámsters puesta por Karin.
«She felt this gesture to be very loving and supportive. “The being gave. I didn’t take. I didn’t ask,” she remarked.» — y el balance que ella hace del intercambio.
«Carol took great pains to describe to me precisely the quality of feeling she experienced as she relived an encounter with a being to whom she had felt close through much of her life.» — el cuidado que Carol puso en describir esa relación, según el autor.
«She feels the relationship is complete and that she will not see this entity again, because she does not believe it exists anymore, “in its realm or in mine.”» — lo que ella cree del ser: que ya no existe ni en su reino ni en el de ella.
«There is no way I can describe this,” Carol said, but the contact had left her with a change in her “perceptive ability.”» — y lo que le quedó, con la declaración de indescriptible por delante.
«It was as if “I could give you part of me that you would be able to keep with you, that would become a part of you.”» — la imagen con que sí lo dice.
«It’s a memory of a friend,” she continued, “a very good feeling, a relational connection that has comfort. If you took somebody who is dying, and you held them in your arms and comforted them, if you took a baby that was crying, and you have it in your arms and you comforted it, that connection. It has a lifelong quality about it.”» — y la comparación con que la cierra: consolar a un moribundo o a un bebé que llora.
«It was in part because of this connection, she believes, that Carol has not been afraid of death, even as a child.» — lo que Carol atribuye a esa conexión, según el autor.
«On several occasions experiencers have described intensely erotic experiences with the beings, which can also seem a bit comical when they are described.» — el autor introduce los relatos eróticos con la advertencia de que suenan cómicos al contarse.
«One night Isabel went to bed feeling particularly sexually frustrated and had trouble sleeping. “In the middle of the night, I woke up, and, I swear to God, someone was having sex with me, and I thought it was Ben,” her boyfriend, and she thought, “This is great, Ben is having sex with me, this is good. But then I became conscious that there’s someone lying next to me.” Ben, she saw, was asleep. “So who am I having sex with?” she wondered. After “that initial shock,” she felt “really good.”» — el episodio de Isabel, con la confusión inicial sobre su novio y el desenlace.
«Comparing the experience to having sex with a man, Isabel said she felt the penetration and thrusting—“I felt sex”—but “there was this intense feeling all through me, and then peacefulness, and I felt loved. It was different than sex with a human being, physical sex. It was more—I know this is going to sound dumb—but it’s like having spiritual sex.» — cómo lo compara ella con el sexo humano, y el nombre que le da con la reserva puesta por ella misma.
«I remember feeling that whoever did this cared enough about me that they felt the state I was in, that I felt distressed, and that they came and helped me. I didn’t feel like, ‘Oh my God, who did this without my permission!’ I just felt, ‘Thank you.’”» — lo que Isabel dice haber sentido: cuidado y no violación, hasta el agradecimiento.
«There is a lot of ego involved in sex with a human being,” Isabel continued.» — su reproche al sexo humano, que llama demasiado técnico.
«It was an awakening within me. . . . It was like they were allowing my spirit to awaken, and to feel the love from them.”» — y lo que sí encontró en aquello, en clave de despertar.
«Isabel knew and trusted this being, and that she had been given a great gift. Afterward she felt “greater” than anything else that could ever happen, a “peacefulness that comes from just knowing.”» — el saldo del episodio para Isabel.
«As they become more aware of their connection with the beings, some experiencers may come to the realization that they have an alien mate on “the other side.”» — el autor consigna la figura de la pareja alienígena del otro lado.
«This relationship may or may not involve some sort of spawning and parenting of hybrid offspring. It inevitably causes conflict for experiencers who are in committed marriages. Because of their strangeness, these accounts sometimes seem absurd, especially in the retelling.» — el conflicto que le atribuye a los casados, y su propia advertencia sobre lo absurdo del relato.
«The sexual part of my relationship [with the beings] has been very complex and very rich and very difficult at times because I’m a married man.» — lo que Strieber le dijo sobre la complejidad de esa parte de su relación.
«I’ve taken marriage vows, which I believe in.» — con sus votos matrimoniales dentro de la ecuación, y el control que declara no haber tenido.
«There is a specific alien female with whom he feels mated. “It’s like having a second wife with whom I have a secret relationship.”» — la figura con que Strieber la nombra.
«There was never a seduction,” he said.» — lo que niega que haya habido, y el estado en que dice despertar.
«The physical dynamic is different in the sense that the sensation of intercourse moves through your whole body, and you become totally devoted to it for longer than I do in normal intercourse.”» — cómo describe Strieber la diferencia física.
«It feels to him “as if a level of sexuality I’m normally not involved with is engaged. It’s very, very powerful.”» — y hasta dónde la lleva: un nivel de sexualidad con el que no suele tratar.
«Strieber has fully informed his wife of this connection, and they have decided that “what we have together, human love, is fine for us, and so we’re very happy with our love.» — lo que él y su esposa decidieron al respecto.
«This other experience is not one I could live with with the degree of comfort I have with my relationship with Anne.» — la comparación que hace con su relación con Anne.
«If that happened every night, I think I’d blow a gasket.”» — y el remate, en registro coloquial.
«Whatever may be the creative intelligence or principle behind the hybrid “project,” it has “discovered” that the biomechanical mode of baby-making does not work out very well» — el autor consigna que el modo biomecánico de hacer bebés no le funciona bien a esa inteligencia, sea la que sea.
«Joseph was shocked and saddened during one of his encounters to see a room on a ship that was filled with deformed offspring. One hybrid, for example, had an arm that looked almost human, while the other arm appeared “alien”; another had an alien face on one side and a more human one on the other.» — lo que Joseph dice haber visto en un cuarto de la nave, con dos ejemplos de deformidad.
«At the same time, the aliens have communicated to Joseph that they are concerned about genetic deformities on our planet and the increasing rate of sterility in the human race that has resulted from nuclear explosions, radiation, pollution, and other causes.» — lo que esos seres le comunicaron a Joseph sobre deformidades genéticas y esterilidad crecientes en la Tierra, con sus causas.
«Thus the reproductive “exchange program,” at least from the alien perspective, has a certain urgency.» — la urgencia que de ahí saca el programa de intercambio, acotada por el autor a la perspectiva de ellos.
«“They are concerned,” Joseph says, “about how quickly our race is going to disappear,” for Earth changes are leading to our not being able to reproduce at all.» — lo que Joseph dice que les preocupa.
«Because of the way we have lived on this planet, he has been taught, we have “altered the divine creative process that was started here.”» — y de qué nos responsabiliza, según lo que dice que le enseñaron.
«“It doesn’t feel like they’re so concerned about themselves,” Joseph remarks, in contrast to statements by Jim Sparks and others that aliens are driven by their own self-focused agendas.» — el autor consigna aquí un desacuerdo entre informantes: Joseph no los ve interesados en sí mismos, contra Jim Sparks y otros que les atribuyen agenda propia.
«What has been missing, the beings seem to have discovered, are the elements of parenting that the human dimension of the hybrids requires.» — lo que a juicio del autor faltaba en el proyecto.
«It’s like the sperm and the eggs are not enough,” Joseph says. “There needs to be some kind of desire or, I want to say, the emotion of wanting to ‘produce’” a baby.» — la formulación de Joseph.
«To correct this deficiency, human beings are being paired with an alien mate with whom they seem to be encouraged to form an emotional, erotic, and spiritual connection.» — el remedio que el autor describe: emparejar humanos con una pareja alienígena y fomentar un vínculo afectivo, erótico y espiritual.
«It is clear,” he says, “that what has been successful is that when this bond is created from infancy or from childhood up, the chance of successful hybrid children is so much better.”» — lo que según Joseph resulta de crear ese vínculo desde la infancia.
«It also seems to have purposes and meaning that go beyond a literal reproductive agenda.» — y el límite que el autor le pone a la lectura reproductiva.
«With considerable conflict and resistance, Joseph came to accept that he had an alien mate “on the other side.”» — lo que Joseph acabó aceptando, con la resistencia consignada, y los problemas que eso le abre con su esposa.
«In our last regression, he recalled that among the children on the ship he was brought to play with, there was one with whom he had been paired from the beginning. “I was always close to one little kid,” he recalled, “and the whole time it was meant that I would then eventually breed with her.”» — lo que Joseph recordó en la última regresión sobre la niña con la que lo emparejaron desde el principio.
«As the episode progressed, the being seemed more and more “humanoid” and less alien, but hybrid qualities persisted.» — lo que dice haber visto de la maduración de ella en paralelo a la suya.
«Although this being seemed quite human in some ways, she still had overly large eyes (though not as large as the pure aliens’ eyes), a flat nose, and virtually no lips.» — y lo que ella conservaba de no humano.
«With a good deal of internal resistance, Joseph was able to share with me the details of one of his sexual encounters with his hybrid partner. The “idea” that he had “made love with an alien and enjoyed it” was extremely difficult for him to accept.» — el autor consigna la resistencia con que Joseph le contó el encuentro sexual, y qué era lo que le costaba aceptar.
«He described her as soft and gentle, with a broad forehead and whitish, light hair.» — los rasgos que Joseph describe.
«not huge like the eyes of aliens,” with “a whisper of eyebrows.”» — y los ojos, que él distingue expresamente de los de los grises; la palabra queda partida por el corte de línea.
«He recalled walking with her down a hall, then up a small ramp into a square area with walls of smoky black glass, which he called her “bedroom” or “suite,” a “place of sanctuary.”» — el lugar al que dice haber ido, con los nombres que él le da.
«The lovemaking began on some sort of chair with Joseph squeezing his partner with his legs while they embraced each other. Then in the room they made love on a rather uncomfortable hard slab that served as a bed.» — cómo empezó, en el relato de Joseph.
«She was thin and bony, and her skin felt cooler than his—“I don’t want to say clammy”—and he could not tell if she had nipples.» — lo que dice del cuerpo de ella, con la corrección que él mismo se hace sobre la palabra.
«She did not seem to do anything to stimulate him, but he remembers that they rolled over and he mounted her, with no sense that he had an erection, but with a sensation of genital contact. “It feels so good. Her skin is so white, angel white. She was so gentle with me,” he said.» — lo que siguió, con la ausencia de erección y la sensación de contacto genital que Joseph declara a la vez.
«Strangely, there was “a deadness in the eyes.” Nevertheless, Joseph wanted to make love with this being so much that he was “afraid that I love something more than I love my life here on Earth. I’m connected to some other woman in another world, and she’s not alien, not to me. It doesn’t feel like sex. It feels like this wonderful bonding, lovemaking. She’s responding to wherever I’m at. The problem is that I’m married. I live here. I’m human. I’m in love with my wife.”» — la muerte en la mirada que Joseph anota, y el conflicto que le abre: teme querer aquello más que su vida en la Tierra, y está casado.
«As the experience was ending, Joseph had a feeling of revulsion, and then the being stopped responding. He had an image of himself coming, and then “waking up and snapping out of it.”» — cómo terminó.
«darker and obviously attractive to him, although still an alien hybrid.» — lo que el autor consigna de la sesión siguiente: la pareja de Joseph más adulta y abiertamente atractiva para él, y todavía híbrida.
«He realized that he had been paired with and taught to love a desirable female, and that he, like many other couples he observed on the ship, had been brought together to be parents for their hybrid children.» — lo que Joseph comprendió entonces sobre el emparejamiento, y que no era solo suyo.
«It was now clear to Joseph that “when this bond is created from infancy or childhood up, the chance of successful hybrid children is so much better.”» — la regla que él da por clara.
«The beings, he said, had “created” many families for this purpose, and that his role had progressed from giving sperm, to mating with an alien female, then to parenting hybrid children.» — las familias creadas para eso, y la progresión de su propio papel: del esperma al apareamiento y de ahí a la crianza.
«He asserted that he had been a willing participant in this process, which he considered his life purpose, so much so that he had chosen not to produce children on Earth.» — su declaración de participación voluntaria, y la consecuencia que sacó para su vida terrena.
«“It’s like I have a wife and a family and kids over there, and when the time comes, John, that’s where my real family is.”» — la comparación que hace entre las dos familias, dirigiéndose al autor por su nombre.
«Beyond the apparent evolutionary service of his parenting function, Joseph’s relationship with the female hybrid seemed to have another, transformational, purpose.» — el segundo propósito que el autor le encuentra a esa relación.
«It has to do with the transfer of knowledge, with the transfer of energy, with the transfer of power.» — cómo lo formula Joseph.
«People are going to change,” he says.» — y qué espera de ello.
«When he is with his alien partner, it seems to Joseph as if each of them is giving an essential life element to the other. During the lovemaking he feels it is “almost like I’m giving her life,” as if he were an “older man and she the younger woman. I was teaching her.”» — el intercambio que Joseph describe, con el reparto de papeles que él mismo pone.
«He, in turn, is meant to bring back to Earth “extraterrestrial energy and feeling and whatever they embody. It’s a two» — lo que le toca traer de vuelta; la palabra queda partida por el corte de línea.
«way street. I’m teaching them, and they’re teaching me.” The relationship has brought to Joseph the conviction that “I’m connected to something greater. It’s like going from the idea of a state to the idea of the United Nations.”» — la reciprocidad y la comparación política con que Joseph la cierra.
«I first saw Andrea four years after these meetings with Joseph. We may recall (see page 135) that she believes that she is the parent of a beautiful boy she calls Kiran who is the issue of her mating with a man in another dimension.» — el autor pasa al caso de Andrea, cuatro años posterior, y recuerda su hijo Kiran.
«We may recall (see page 135) that she believes that she is the parent of a beautiful boy she calls Kiran who is the issue of her mating with a man in another dimension.» — y consigna que ese vínculo es tan intenso como el de Joseph, y decisivo para que ella sepa quién es.
«The relationship is different from Joseph and his mate’s insofar as the boy and his father both appear to Andrea to be fully integrated, that is, fully human and fully alien.» — la diferencia que el autor marca entre los dos casos: el hijo y el padre le parecen a Andrea del todo integrados.
«In addition, she has been told that this being resides on Earth as well as in the craft, and she told us that the aliens have encouraged her to find him here so that they can parent Kiran in this plane.» — lo que a Andrea le han dicho sobre dónde vive ese ser, y lo que se le pide que haga.
«Some elements in this story are so bizarre, from the standpoint of our space/time reality, that they bring into question the material» — la reserva del autor sobre este relato; la frase sigue del otro lado del corte de plana.
«literalness of these experiences, however powerful or meaningful they may be.» — el cierre de esa reserva: la literalidad material queda en entredicho, no la fuerza ni el sentido.
«Although she recalled playing with her “extraterrestrial” lover as a child, before we began our work Andrea had little conscious memory of being with him at other times.» — lo que Andrea recordaba antes de empezar el trabajo, y lo que no.
«Several months after we started meeting, she was able to speak in detail about one of her intimate encounters with the human/alien man. It had occurred over a year before, on the ship, and she was “completely” in the form of an alien woman with “droopy,” perhaps “sticky” skin that is looser than human skin and “breathes out stuff through it.”» — el encuentro que pudo contar meses después, con ella misma en forma alienígena y la piel que describe.
«She described her body as “skinny,” and although her limbs might appear bony, Andrea does not believe that she had bones.» — lo que dice de su cuerpo en esa forma, con la duda sobre los huesos.
«If they’re bones,” she said, “they’re more like cartilage.”» — y la corrección que ofrece.
«Andrea felt certain that in her alien form she had fingers and toes, but only four fingers, which seemed longer than humans’. Her head was large, with no hair, “really little” ears, a mouth like a slit, and a flat nose.» — el resto de la descripción de sí misma en esa forma.
«I think I have breasts,” she said, but she was not sure whether there were nipples.» — la duda que le queda sobre pechos y pezones, y lo que sí afirma del pecho.
«After the leader alien (“the guy with the big eyes”) had left, Andrea feels she was “set up” to have sex with her mate, who, she believed, had been her partner in several lifetimes. At first she could not see his face.» — el escenario que Andrea describe, con el término suyo para lo que le hicieron y las vidas compartidas que supone.
«This time he was naked and in human form, with a “very nice brown body” and skin that was somewhat darker than hers.» — cómo se le apareció él esa vez.
«When he first got close to her, he was “grossed out” and terrified, and she could not figure out why she did not change to human form or he did not change to alien form. “I could read his thought, ‘They want me to have sex with her? Oh my God! I gotta get out of here,’ and then ‘I know who you are, but I still don’t want to have sex with you.’”» — el rechazo inicial de él, leído por Andrea en su pensamiento, y el desconcierto de ella por que ninguno cambiara de forma.
«Nevertheless, as she moved closer to him, he moved closer to her.» — y aun así, lo que siguió.
«After the man relaxed, they held each other standing up, and some sort of “very subtle” vibration began all over their bodies. Then he had an erection, “and his body moved into mine,” Andrea said.» — cómo empezó, con la vibración por delante.
«But it was not like regular intercourse, she explained. “It was better, and I’m remembering how much we cared for each other,” and that it “lasted a lot longer.” Although pleasurable sensations may have begun in the genital area, they spread throughout her body. No back-and-forth bodily movement, as in regular intercourse, occurred, as the vibration brought about a feeling of merging.» — en qué difirió del coito ordinario, según ella: sin movimiento de vaivén y con la vibración produciendo fusión.
«It seemed to Andrea as if “you expand everything, and it goes into the universe, like enlightenment.» — la expansión que describe, y el término con que la nombra.
«His heart came into my heart, and I loved it,” she said.» — y lo que dice del corazón de él.
«The whole experience “opened up very much my heart.”» — el saldo que ella declara.
«night, and that she had sometimes brought such intense energy to her lovemaking with her husband that it “blew us both away.” It was, she thought, not a normal way of having sex or an orgasm: “It was a total kaboom, like expansion.”» — lo que Andrea dice haber llevado a su vida sexual con el marido, y el nombre que le da.
«She felt certain that the vibratory aspect of such experiences had resulted in making her body healthier.» — y lo que le atribuye a esa vibración.
«Andrea remained very much concerned that her involvement in the other world could, as in Joseph’s case, create a major problem for her marriage.» — la preocupación que le queda, que el autor empareja con la de Joseph.
«The big guy with the big eyes looked right at me and told me I have free choice.”» — lo que dice haberle dicho la figura de los ojos grandes.
«I feel like there’s two of me. One is very, very committed to this mission, whatever it is, and the other one is sitting here wondering ‘what am I doing, what am I doing, what am I doing,’ and ‘if it isn’t real, it’s screwing up my life.’» — y el desgarro con que ella lo vive, incluida la hipótesis de que nada de eso sea real.
«When Andrea tried to tell her husband that she had had a sexual encounter in relation to her experiences, he made a joke of it, and she sensed he felt threatened.» — cómo reaccionó su marido, y lo que ella leyó en esa reacción.
«He did not seem to want to hear more about it, or any other aspect of her experiences, and would change the subject when she tried to talk about them.» — y lo que él hacía cuando ella intentaba hablar del asunto.
«She decided therefore to keep this “other life” largely to herself and did not, for example, tell him that she had a son “on the other side.”» — la decisión que ella tomó, incluido el silencio sobre el hijo.
«In the next session, Andrea relived with a great deal of fear an experience of flying out of a ship with another woman with dark hair, whom she later called a nurse. Some sort of cord seemed to link her to a blue light that came down from the ship.» — lo que Andrea revivió en la sesión siguiente, con la mujer de pelo oscuro a la que después llamó enfermera.
«“When you’re in the blue light,” she noted, “you don’t experience any weather. You’re warm and completely fine.”» — lo que dice de la luz azul.
«On the ship she seemed to have been in alien form but was surprised to find that she changed to human form as she flew out of it. The whole thing startled her intensely, and she cried out, “Oh my God, I can’t believe this is happening. I’m flipping out. I’m flying out of the ship.» — el cambio de forma que la sorprendió, y su reacción textual.
«The purpose of this journey down from the ship, she was told, was to have her find her mate from the ship so they could parent Kiran together on the Earth.» — el propósito del viaje, según se lo dijeron: encontrar a su pareja para criar juntos a Kiran en la Tierra.
«I have a dual life,” she said, and “I think they want it to come together.”» — cómo lo resume ella.
«In the blue light, Andrea could see the Earth and then a road coming up to meet her.» — lo que vio en el descenso.
«She does not recall the moment of impact but found her self on a beach of what she took to be one of the Hawaiian islands, the same one that she had envisioned exploding (see page 100).» — dónde se encontró, y el enlace con la isla que había visto estallar.
«This seemed to be, as Roberta Colasanti remarked, the first case of hunting down an extraterrestrial “deadbeat dad.”» — la ocurrencia de Roberta Colasanti sobre el caso, que el autor consigna con su nombre.
«Andrea remarked several times a bit resentfully that she felt she was part of some sort of “experiment.”» — y lo que Andrea repitió con resentimiento sobre su propio papel.
«Andrea realized that identifying her lover might be rather difficult, as she had never really seen his face clearly.» — la dificultad práctica que ella misma señala.
«She remembers that she stepped onto the porch of the house and that the terror intensified, despite the fact that the nurse was there to encourage her. Then Andrea knocked on the door. Someone was standing in the doorway, but her fear was so great that she could not recall whom she saw.» — lo que recuerda del momento de tocar la puerta, con el miedo borrándole la cara de quien abrió.
«She found herself warning this person about the danger to Hawaii, but she would not look at him and chose not to tell him about her son, even though the leader figure with the big eyes had wanted her to talk about raising him. “» — lo que sí hizo y lo que no, contra lo que el líder de los ojos grandes quería.
«I don’t want to go any further with this. I don’t want to see this,” Andrea protested, attributing her hesitancy to the possibility that the man “might say no” or that an encounter with him on Earth, real or imagined, might pose a further threat to her marriage.» — la razón que Andrea da para no seguir, con las dos posibilidades que teme.
«Three months later, in a relaxation session, Andrea found herself taken by a ship through time to a city in an ancient desert civilization she identified as Mesopotamia or possibly Egypt.» — el episodio de tres meses después: un viaje a una civilización antigua del desierto que ella identifica como Mesopotamia o quizá Egipto.
«It was difficult for her to explain, for although she was an “ancient person,” in this older culture the events were “happening now.”» — la dificultad que ella declara para explicar el tiempo de aquello.
«Andrea was with her lover once again, but she was in another body with darker skin, while the man’s skin was even darker than before. “He knows me, and I know him on a very deep level. He has beautiful dark eyes, and we work together,” she recalled.» — con quién estaba, y en qué cuerpo.
«Arriving in this place was like a “welcome home,” Andrea said, for these were “my people.” In this society people loved their bodies, and she felt “much more present with my body, much more fully embodied.” Life in this society was “delicious and free,” people had many close friends and were more deeply connected than in our culture. Andrea remembered sitting on a step talking happily with five other people.» — cómo describe esa sociedad: cuerpos amados, vida sabrosa y libre, y vínculos más hondos que en la nuestra.
«In particular, she would bring the capacity for healing with her hands, for in her state of expanded consciousness, she knew how to heal people through the higher vibration of her touch.» — lo que dice haber traído de ahí a este tiempo: curar con las manos por vibración más alta.
«I have this commitment to two people. I don’t know how I can do that.» — y el conflicto que le queda, dicho como queja.
«Andrea spoke then of how the beings, one of whom seemed to have his face close to hers, had been a bridge between ancient Mesopotamia and our Earth world here and now.» — el papel de puente que Andrea les atribuye entre aquella Mesopotamia y este mundo.
«They’ve been a bridge for a long, long time,” she said.» — cuánto tiempo, según ella.
«They are part of our seed,” and “they’re helping us remember who we are, just» — y qué son, en su fórmula: parte de nuestra semilla.
«They actually are us, a piece of us, but are more highly evolved in the sense of vibration.» — hasta dónde lleva esa identidad, con la diferencia puesta en la vibración.
«That’s why I have a son, so I can mesh the material.» — y para qué sirve su hijo dentro de ese plan, según ella.
«Credo Mutwa, who has a far-from-charitable view of the alien beings (see chapters 7 and 10), has a similar view of our identity with them, which, he says, is why they are sexually compatible with human beings and can make terrestrial women pregnant.» — el autor pone al lado la lectura de Mutwa, y anota expresamente que su visión de esos seres no es benévola: coinciden en la identidad, no en la valoración.
«When human sexual union with alien beings has been reported to me, it has most often been with apparent hybrid forms of the “grays,” or integrated humans/aliens that appear, as in Andrea’s case, like human beings.» — con qué formas se reportan esas uniones, en el balance del autor.
«Nona told me of an intimate encounter in her bedroom with a gentle Egyptian-appearing being, apparently of the same sort that showed her the ankh and the beautiful gardens on the ships.» — el episodio de Nona, con el ser de aspecto egipcio que ella ya conocía.
«She had been saying a sacred mantra she had learned from a Peruvian friend a couple of times a day for about a week when one night she awoke to find a dark-haired Egyptian being by her bed while her husband continued to sleep next to her.» — el antecedente que ella refiere: un mantra aprendido de una amiga peruana, repetido durante una semana.
«She was lying on her back, and he put his hands lightly over the out side of her body, “almost like a healing.” The being was quite solid and wore a tight tunic that came below his waist.» — lo que el ser hizo, y cómo lo describe ella; la partición de la palabra es del reflujo.
«The experience, Nona said, was not so much erotic as “what I would imagine as knowing complete love within my being.”» — y cómo califica ella la experiencia.
«experience was a kind of next step in her understanding, and that she could consciously draw this being to her. “I understood more of what was being done in terms of what we need to understand about ourselves,” of learning to feel total love.» — lo que Nona saca de ese encuentro, y lo que dice haber entendido.
«In somewhat the same way that Andrea felt she was bringing past knowledge into present reality, Nona felt that encounters like this one represented a commitment from another time. In that earlier period, as represented by the Egyptian figure, Nona had had experiences that she could bring forward and work with “at this time when it is needed.”» — el paralelo que el autor traza con Andrea: un compromiso de otro tiempo traído a éste.
«The power of the connection with the alien beings seems to occur most often through looking into their eyes.» — dónde sitúa el autor el grueso de la conexión.
«Because this contact can be such an overwhelming experience, evoking overwhelming emotions, abductees will often avoid such contact or suppress the memory of its intensity.» — y por qué muchos la evitan o la olvidan.
«The large eyes of the beings are consistently reported to be by far the most prominent feature of their faces, and an important locus of connection.» — la constancia con que se reporta ese rasgo, y lo que el autor hace de él: un punto de conexión.
«It is as if the eyes were an opening to the infinite.» — la fórmula con que el autor lo dice, en modo comparativo.
«When they actually do make contact, the eye-to-eye connection may seem the most compelling dimension of the human/alien bond.» — y qué lugar le da dentro del vínculo.
«In this section I will report how the beings’ eyes are described, the range of experiences that abductees report when they look into them, and where this aspect of the phenomenon seems to lead.» — lo que la sección se propone.
«The image of the gray aliens’ eyes has become a kind of commercial icon in this culture.» — lo que el autor observa sobre esa imagen en la cultura.
«These eyes are usually described by experiencers—before and since the media depictions—as large and black, oblong or almond-shaped, slanted or “wrap-around,” and without pupils.» — la descripción típica, que el autor fecha antes y después de las representaciones mediáticas.
«The eyes are perceived as intelligent and at least initially as frightening or intimidating.» — y los rasgos menos citados que él añade.
«Often experiencers see some sort of membrane that may cover a portion of the eyes. Usually, but not always, experiencers do not see the eyes close or blink.» — la membrana que muchos dicen ver, y el parpadeo que casi nunca observan.
«I have heard on several occasions the idea that what is seen is not the eye itself but a kind of goggle, a lens, or even a mask that covers the surface of the actual eye, possibly to protect it from certain kinds of light.» — la hipótesis que el autor dice haber oído varias veces: que lo que se ve sea una gafa, una lente o una máscara sobre el ojo.
«Nona described the two eyes of a being that seemed only six inches from hers. They seemed huge, about five inches wide and three inches tall, very dark and so glossy she could see her reflection in them, yet also somehow transparent.» — las medidas que Nona da, con el reflejo propio y la transparencia a la vez.
«appears shiny and so dark is really a lens to protect the eye underneath.» — y su conjetura sobre la luz ultravioleta y la lente.
«Celeste wrote to us of waking up to see one of the beings standing near her bed. She yelled for help as she saw eyes that “shone like the black opals that I have been thinking about, and reflected rainbows of colors in their convex shape.”» — lo que Celeste escribió: ojos como ópalos negros con arcoíris en su convexidad.
«“The eyes were like nothing on Earth,” he told us.» — la descripción de Mutwa, que el autor califica de igual de dramática.
«They looked like “plastic bottles, very black plastic,” and they did not blink or close. He compared them to “a type of windscreen that was used in Africa not so long ago for cars, so all the windows were jet black and you couldn’t see the people inside the cars.”» — y la comparación africana con que la cierra.
«“I saw this person,” Emma said, “and it had big eyes.» — lo que dijo Emma, de la escuela Ariel.
«Even when the beings they perceive are not the typical small grays, experiencers still tend to stress the prominence, large size, or odd features of the eyes. Blond “Nordic”-appearing beings may be seen as having slitted cats’ eyes, and mantislike entities may have eyes like some insects.» — el autor consigna que el énfasis en los ojos no depende del tipo de ser.
«Greg told us of tall reptilian creatures with “unbelievable eyes, but not the kind of eyes that the little guys have.» — lo que Greg dice de los ojos de los reptilianos altos, con la distinción explícita frente a los de los chicos.
«The emotional impact of contact with the beings’ large eyes is vastly greater than might be expected from any description of their unusual nature.» — el autor advierte que el impacto emocional excede con mucho lo que la descripción haría prever.
«Experiencers often have the feeling that they are being stared at, sometimes with the beings’ faces close up to theirs. This in itself can be quite disturbing, especially if they feel pulled toward the figure or that the being seems to want him or her to look into its eyes.» — la sensación de ser mirado, y lo que la agrava.
«During one of her experiences, Andrea told us, three beings were standing over her, “and one of them really put his eyes into my eyes.» — cómo lo dice Andrea.
«Greg said of one of the reptilian beings that it seemed to be “looking at us with wonder.”» — y lo que Greg leyó en la mirada de un reptiliano.
«Despite their fear, experiencers may feel themselves inexorably drawn to make contact with the beings’ eyes.» — la atracción que el autor consigna pese al miedo.
«Lisel, an eleven-year-old girl at the Ariel School, felt afraid when it seemed that one of the beings was staring at her and other children, for “I’ve never seen such a person before.”» — el miedo de Lisel, de once años, con la razón que ella da.
«She felt a mixture of fear and excitement. “His eyes looked at me as if, ‘Oh, I want you,’ like, ‘I want you to come with me.’” “Did you go with him?” I asked.“Only my eyes went with him—and my feeling,” she replied. The tug to go with the being was strong, but accompanied by the feeling, “I shouldn’t go.”» — lo que Emma leyó en esos ojos, la respuesta que dio al autor y el freno que sintió.
«Andrea told us that in one of her experiences the beings’ eyes themselves— rarely reported, I believe—seemed to contribute to the energy that transported her to a ship.» — lo que Andrea atribuye a los ojos mismos, y que el autor anota como raramente reportado.
«On one occasion she saw three beings on her porch and thought they seemed restless, “like, ‘Let’s go.’ They just look into my eyes, and I’m numb. Now they’re saying, ‘Are you ready?’ And I’m saying, ‘Yeah, I’m ready. I’m all set.’”» — el episodio del porche, en el diálogo que ella reconstruye.
«On another occasion she felt that one of the beings “just wants me to look into his eyes and stop the baloney”— that is, her avoidance. She did so, and then “he’s got them [locked her in the eye connection] now,” and “he’s lifting me off the bed.” Andrea felt dizzy as she recalled “floating off ” her bed.» — otra vez, con el reclamo del ser contra su evasión y el efecto que ella describe; el corchete es del autor.
«(Olivia, a nine-year-old girl at the Ariel School, also said it made her dizzy when she looked into a being’s eyes.)» — el autor añade entre paréntesis el mareo que Olivia, de nueve años, también refirió.
«I don’t know what got me up.» — lo que Andrea responde cuando el autor le pregunta qué la levantó.
«I don’t know what got me up. I think it’s the light.» — y la conjetura que se permite.
«Much of the fear that the aliens’ eyes seems to inspire comes from the fact that they are so apparently different or unfamiliar.» — a qué atribuye el autor el miedo que inspiran esos ojos.
«Emma thought the being with its big black eyes “was scary because it was so strange.”» — lo que dijo Emma.
«When I asked Kay Leigh, age nine, another child at the Ariel School, what made the beings so scary, she said, “The eyes looked evil.” I asked her what she meant by evil. “It looked evil because it was just staring at me.”» — lo que dijo Kay Leigh, de nueve años, y lo que entendía ella por maligno cuando el autor le repreguntó.
«These eyes, at least in one experience that Andrea reported, are so acute, they seem as if they can see things that human eyes cannot.» — lo que Andrea les atribuye en cuanto a agudeza visual.
«Some guy was looking at my body really closely. . . . His eyes are right down on my skin, and he says that there’s living things on me.” “Bacteria,” she guessed.» — el episodio en que se lo dice, con la conjetura de ella al final.
«The contact with the beings’ eyes can be so intense that the experiencer may feel utterly taken over by the encounter.» — la intensidad que el autor le atribuye a ese contacto.
«The more I looked into his eyes, the more all I could see was his eyes.» — lo que Sue recuerda de una de sus primeras experiencias.
«I’m looking away. I don’t want to look. It looks like they’ll just absorb me into their body or something. It looks like they’re going to suck me right in, and as soon as I look, my body starts vibrating.”» — lo que Andrea teme de esa mirada, y lo que le pasa al cuerpo al mirar.
«Another time she said, “They look very, very deep, and you get absorbed into them, completely absorbed into them.” Six months after this she spoke of this feeling as engulfing so that “I sort of lose a little bit of stability, and then you have to recenter.”» — la profundidad que ella describe, y la pérdida de estabilidad que declara seis meses después.
«Abductees sometimes have to go beyond everyday language to capture the overwhelming nature of the contact with the beings’ eyes.» — el autor consigna que el lenguaje corriente no les alcanza para eso.
«“These eyes,” Credo told us, “if you look into them, you don’t see detail like the beautiful eyes of a human being.» — lo que Mutwa dice ver en esos ojos: eternidad y vacío, con pensamientos que no dan expresión.
«For Celeste,“These eyes are radiant, illuminating and fully embracing.» — y lo que ve Celeste, en el extremo contrario: ojos radiantes que desnudan hasta el alma. La carta al autor es de febrero de 1999.
«As we have seen (in chapter 5), the aliens’ eyes sometimes seem to contain or be linked to a vast store of information that is communicated directly to the experiencers.» — el autor consigna la información que esos ojos parecen transmitir directamente.
«“While the thing was looking at me,” Emma said, her “conscience” told her that we are doing harm to the Earth (see page 97).» — el ejemplo: lo que la conciencia de Emma le dijo mientras el ser la miraba.
«They also seem to be able to look into the depths of a person and to know immediately their most intimate selves.» — y la otra dirección de esa mirada, según el autor.
«Isabel has felt at times as if she were looking into the eyes of a predator when she sees the “midnight blue” alien eyes. As she looked more deeply into the eyes, she felt embarrassed and foolish.» — lo que Isabel ha sentido ante los ojos azul medianoche, y el efecto de mirar más hondo.
«That’s why there’s no pupil,” Andrea suggests, for “it would stop the reflection” and “all the different projections that are made onto» — lo que ella les atribuye de saber sobre uno mismo.
«The beings seem to her to be accepting, although at times they appear to be a little impatient,» — y la impaciencia que a veces les nota, con la reconvención que ella les pone en boca.
«The eyes reflect back “so much truth of what you’re missing,” Andrea observes. “It is you seeing that which you have kept so deeply hidden and are afraid of, especially our fear of loving ourselves, our fear of being seen, our fear of letting them see us, our fear of seeing them, our fear of accepting. It is a cataclysm of the deepest proportions.”» — lo que Andrea ve reflejado ahí, enumerado por ella: miedo a amarse, a ser vista, a ver, a aceptar.
«(Compare her remark with Strieber’s “annihilating catastrophe of spirit.”)» — el autor empareja entre paréntesis esa fórmula con la de Strieber.
«When experiencers are able to move beyond their fears and accept the reality of the existence of the alien beings and their own relationship to them, the connection through the eyes may take on comforting, even poignant dimensions.» — el autor consigna el cambio de signo cuando se acepta la realidad de esos seres y del propio vínculo.
«Will came to find the eyes extremely soothing, and he, like many experiencers, sensed the longing in them.» — lo que Will llegó a encontrar en esos ojos, y lo que él y muchos leen en ellos.
«“This eye is not looking at me to frighten me,” Nona remembered after one of her encounters,» — lo que Nona recordó de un encuentro en que al principio solo veía un ojo.
«There was a feeling of sadness. “It just gave me a sense of wanting to cry, and a sense of knowing, familiar» — la tristeza que le dejó, con las ganas de llorar y el reconocimiento.
«The eye contact was direct and would not go away, like “when you have a baby, and the baby can’t speak to you, but you communicate when you contact the eyes. . . . It’s like just a personal communication to me. There’s a recognition, or communication of some feelings. . . . That’s why I’m not terrified. I know I’m not going to be hurt. . . . It’s just what you emanate. . . . It’s like they get it, and you get it, the recognition, the sending of the love, the sending of the feelings, of light, of happiness. . . . The eyes are a great communicator, and they can send that information through the eyes.”» — cómo describe Nona ese contacto sostenido, con la comparación con un bebé y el inventario de lo que dice que se transmite.
«Lisel, even though she felt a good deal of fear, also felt the sadness in a being’s eyes. “They just looked horrible and sad,” she said.» — lo que Lisel sintió pese al miedo.
«Despite her fear she “felt sorry for him because I had a feeling they had no love or caring.» — la lástima que declara, y la carencia que les atribuye.
«Perhaps “in space there is no love and down here there is,” she suggested, and “they need love and they’re trying to copy us.”» — y la hipótesis que ella misma propone: que en el espacio no hay amor y que por eso nos copian.
«Some abductees have the feeling that they can see from the perspective of the aliens’ eyes (Mack 1995, chap. 14). This experience not only can overcome the sense of separation but may obliterate the distinction of identity between the abductee and the “alien” beings.» — el autor consigna la experiencia de ver desde los ojos de esos seres, remitiendo a su libro de 1995, y lo que borra.
«The eyes of this [being] are so deep,” Will told us, it is like they can “get behind me, so that wherever I think I am, I’m never not connected.» — cómo lo dice Will.
«Sometimes when I close my eyes, I see the inside of those black eyes,” Karin said. “I know what it looks like from the inside to look out of those big black eyes.”» — cómo lo dice Karin.
«At those times she feels especially the separation from Home and looks at the night sky with great longing.» — y lo que le deja.
«Andrea spoke of the beings’ eyes “beating” into hers. They showed her the Earth as if through their eyes. It seemed as if the Earth was “in my eyes.”» — lo que Andrea dice que le mostraron por esa vía.
«From this eye connection, Andrea came to the feeling during one of our sessions that “there is no difference in the essence of any being.» — lo que ella concluye del contacto ocular, y de qué hace depender que uno experimente eso.
«The sense of oneness Andrea feels with the beings extends to the Earth itself. “Isn’t it funny that we feel so separate from the Earth. It’s all one big heartbeat, and when we decide, that’s when it will shift, when we make a decision that we’ve had enough.”» — hasta dónde extiende Andrea esa unidad, y lo que a su juicio dispararía el cambio.
«Andrea feels unequivocally that “they’re deeply in love with us.”» — lo que ella afirma sin matices sobre el sentimiento de esos seres.
«It is above all the power of feeling communicated through the beings’ eyes to which experiencers respond most intensely.» — el balance del autor sobre a qué responden con más fuerza.
«In June 1991, about a year after we began our work together, Julie told me of» — el marco del relato de Julie, de junio de 1991.
«an encounter with her familiar “doctor” that had occurred when she was eighteen. Her account in a relaxation session captures the compelling quality of the eye connection.» — el episodio que cuenta, ocurrido a sus dieciocho años.
«She recalled lying on a table, and the doctor was standing over her. Julie described his forehead as protruding and “knotted,” and his head as having no hair or detectable ears. The tiny mouth seemed to her to be smiling.» — cómo describe Julie a esa figura.
«He’s really kind of handsome in a strange way,” she said. “He’s got great big eyes and he’s smiling,” all black without pupils, “enormous almond eyes, and they’re really pretty because the light’s shining in them.”» — el juicio estético que ella hace, en presente.
«It was like being engulfed and just being treasured and protected, and I think that if you were to see him, you would think he was godlike,” Julie told us.» — lo que sintió, y lo que supone que vería cualquiera.
«I asked how much of his appeal came from the eyes. “Almost all of it,” she replied. “I’m looking at the eyes,” she continued, and “it just sucks you in. It’s like a giant fix. Like you’d do anything to get it. It’s—it’s communication. It’s everything.”» — la respuesta de Julie cuando el autor le pregunta cuánto de aquello venía de los ojos, con la metáfora de la dosis puesta por ella.
Sobre la obra
55 entradas — lo que el aparato y la investigación dicen de ella«Commemorative Edition | New Material Copyright © 2008 Original Copyright © 1999 by John Mack» — la página de créditos de White Crow Books; esta edición es de 2011 y el material nuevo, de 2008.
«disclaims any liability or responsibility for the author's statements, words, ideas, criticisms or observations» — descargo del editor: White Crow se deslinda del contenido. Dato de recepción.
«To the experiencers, who have been my teachers» — dedicatoria.
«While he fudges the question of whether the aliens are "real in a strictly material sense,"» — reseña de *Publishers Weekly* reproducida en el aparato de la conmemorativa. No es voz del autor.
«our knowledge of reality needs to change and that scientific rationalism alone cannot explain the alien abduction syndrome» — reseña de *Library Journal*. No es voz del autor, aunque suena a tesis suya y ancla perfectamente en su página.
«As a result, Harvard warned him to adhere to its standards of conduct for clinical research» — misma reseña de *Library Journal*: la versión que nombra a Harvard está en el aparato, no en el cuerpo firmado por el autor.
«This veritable handbook of New Age philosophy will find a readership in most public libraries» — remate de la reseña anónima de *Library Journal*. La caracterización es del reseñista, no autodescripción de la obra.
«once put him through what might have seemed an inquisition» — del tributo «John E. Mack, M.D.: A Tribute», firmado por el abogado Michael H. Cohen y escrito tras la muerte de Mack en 2004. Es voz de Cohen.
«Roberta Colasanti, Linda Gerber, Stanislav Grof, Michael Harner, Pam Kasey, Jonathan Katz, Steve Larsen, Amy Lawrence, Joe Lewels» — los agradecimientos, que son linaje declarado. Michael Harner —el antropólogo del chamanismo nuclear— aparece una sola vez en toda la obra, y es aquí.
«What happened was a sudden recognition of heart» — epígrafe del prefacio, del astronauta Edgar Mitchell («Remarks at PEER's Star Wisdom conference, May 8, 1998»). Es de Mitchell.
«You sit in a situation where you can't bear to be—and you grow» — epígrafe del capítulo 1, de Whitley Strieber en entrevista con el autor, Wagner, South Dakota, 16 de junio de 1996. Es de Strieber.
«Christianity as a Mystical Fact: And the Mysteries of Antiquity» — del catálogo editorial de White Crow Books, junto a Swedenborg y Ouspensky. Es publicidad del editor de 2011, no bibliografía del autor.
«In extensive interviews with Mack, those who claim to have been abducted report that the aliens are especially motivated by questions of ecological destruction, and that they may even be survivors of a destroyed civilization seeking to breed hybrid children with humans to ensure the survival of both the human race and their own» — la reseña de *Publishers Weekly* resume así las dos tesis que la obra atribuye a sus informantes, la ecológica y la del programa híbrido. Es voz del reseñista, no del autor, y va aquí por eso.
«This is a tribute to John E. Mack, MD, who has transitioned from his physical body to the next plane of consciousness» — arranque del tributo firmado por el abogado Michael H. Cohen y escrito tras la muerte de Mack en 2004. Todo lo que va de aquí a la p. 21 es voz de Cohen.
«I was learning about energy healing—skeptical and distant at first, but increasingly releasing a hard-edged denial of my own gifts in this arena» — Cohen habla de su propia formación en la Barbara Brennan School of Healing, no de la de Mack; el digest lee este tramo como si fuera autobiografía del autor.
«Our work on the “astral planes” in the Brennan school opened me to the possibility that “ET” (extraterrestrial) encounters were real: not fictive,» — Cohen deriva su disposición a tomar en serio los encuentros de su entrenamiento en sanación energética, no de la clínica psiquiátrica.
«According to Peter, the abduction phenomenon, the defining modus operandi of the Grays, reified the classic mind-body split that arguably has been responsible for so much evil in human history: a runaway intellect divorced from the heart, technology gone wild» — lectura del fenómeno que Cohen atribuye a Peter, condiscípulo suyo de la escuela Brennan y experienciante; doble reenvío de voz, y ninguno de los dos es Mack.
«Mack advocates that Western culture requires a shift away from a purely materialist worldview (which he feels is responsible for the Cold War, the global ecological crisis, ethnonationalism and regional conflict) towards a transpersonal worldview which embraces certain elements of Eastern spiritual and philosophical traditions» — resumen que Cohen hace de la posición de Mack: el verbo en tercera persona lo delata como glosa ajena, aunque el contenido suene a tesis del libro.
«It would be perfectly acceptable for me to believe that Mary physically ascended to heaven or that Moses parted the Red Sea or that Arjuna had entered a chariot driven by Krishna, but ludicrous, in the minds of many, to believe that a being from another planet could speak to me telepathically in a hotel room» — la asimetría que denuncia Cohen: la academia tolera la creencia religiosa consagrada y ridiculiza la extraterrestre.
«the “mind-forg’d manacles,” as Blake would call them» — Cohen cita a Blake para nombrar el miedo profesional. La fuente imprime solo el apellido; el nombre completo con que el digest lo trae no aparece nunca en la obra.
«John’s gift was unconditional acceptance of the possibility for transcendence» — así resume Cohen lo que recibió de Mack.
«Harvard issued a statement stating that the Dean had ‘reaffirmed Dr. Mack’s academic freedom to study what he wishes and to state his opinions without impediment,’ concluding ‘Dr. Mack remains a member in good standing of the Harvard Faculty of Medicine.» — el desenlace de la indagatoria institucional, citado por Cohen en el tributo; el cuerpo firmado por el autor no lo consigna.
«There was a book, for example, I was writing on my experience in Byelorussia, in a visit that involved trying to help children radiation victims of Chernobyl through energy healing» — el proyecto sobre los niños de Chernóbil es de Cohen, no de Mack; el digest se lo adjudica al autor.
«I wish to give great thanks for the kindness of Mu Soeng, Katherine Diehl, and the staff at the Buddhist Study Center in Barre, Massachusetts, who provided a place of respite, peace, and understanding where much of this book was written» — de los agradecimientos: el lugar de escritura declarado es un centro de estudios budistas, dato de linaje que la obra no vuelve a mencionar.
«When you see the Earth like this, and the cosmos like this, and ten times more stars, ten times as bright because of no intervening atmosphere» — sigue el epígrafe del prefacio, del astronauta Edgar Mitchell. Es de Mitchell. La frase continúa con una vista de 180 grados que el reflujo parte en dos líneas.
«Bryan, Ronald. 2000.“What Can Elementary Particles Tell Us About the World in Which We Live?” Journal of Scientific Exploration, vol. 14, no.2, pp. 257-274» — de la bibliografía: la entrada de Bryan lleva fecha de 2000, posterior a la primera edición de 1999, y es una de las seis referencias tardías que el cuerpo cita. Dato de la edición, no tesis de la obra
«Diaz, Carlos. 1995. Typed remarks for presentation at an international conference in Dusseldorf, Germany, October 29, 1995» — de la bibliografía: lo que el autor cita de Carlos Diaz no es un libro sino unas notas mecanografiadas para una conferencia en Düsseldorf. La fuente del informante se declara inédita
«Callimanopulos, Dominique. 1994. “Notes from Brazil.” Cambridge, MA: PEER (Program for Extraordinary Experience Research» — de la bibliografía: el material brasileño de 1994 se apoya en notas internas de PEER firmadas por Dominique Callimanopulos, no en publicación arbitrada
«Kaku, Michio. 1994. Hyperspace: A Scientific Odyssey. New York: Oxford University Press. ———. 1997. Visions: How Science Will Revolutionize the 21st Century. New York: Bantam. ———. 1998. Interviewed by Art Bell on Coast to Coast radio» — de la bibliografía: junto a los dos libros de Michio Kaku, la tercera entrada que la obra le cita es una entrevista de radio con Art Bell. La cita se corta al pasar de plana, donde consta la fecha
«1996. Song of the Stars: The Lore of a Zulu Shaman (Vusamazulu Credo Mutwa» — de la bibliografía: aquí el nombre se imprime *Vusamazulu*, contra el *Vusumazulu* del cuerpo. Las dos grafías se conservan sin arbitrar
«Intersubjectivity and Interaction in the Analytic Relationship: A Mainstream View.” Psychoanalytic Quarterly, Vol. 69, pp. 63–92» — de la bibliografía: la entrada de Levine y Friedman está fechada en 2000, otra referencia posterior a la primera edición de 1999
«McLeod, Caroline, et al. Forthcoming. Psychopathology, Fantasy Proneness, and Anomalous Experience: The Example of Alien Abduction» — de la bibliografía: el estudio de McLeod que el cuerpo invoca figura como *forthcoming*, sin fecha ni sede, y así permanece en la conmemorativa
«Mack, John E. 1994. Abduction: Human Encounters with Aliens. New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons. ———. 1995. Abduction: Human Encounters with Aliens. Rev. ed. New York: Ballantine Books» — de la bibliografía: el autor consigna sus dos ediciones de *Abduction*, la de Scribner de 1994 y la revisada de Ballantine de 1995, que son el punto de partida declarado de esta obra
«Perry, Mark. 1986. “The Strange Saga of Steve Trueblood.” Veteran, vol. 6, no. 3 (March), pp. 1, 10–13» — de la bibliografía: la fuente publicada del relato militar de Sequoyah Trueblood es un artículo de Mark Perry en la revista *Veteran*, no un archivo oficial
«Pritchard, David E. 1998. Presentation to PEER’s Star Wisdom Con ference, Newtonville, MA, May 9» — de la bibliografía: el físico David E. Pritchard, que le objeta al autor la luz de los abducidos, figura por una ponencia en la conferencia de PEER; no debe confundirse con Andrea Pritchard, editora de *Alien Discussions*. La partición *Con ference* es del reflujo
«1999. Indaba My Children: African Tribal History, Customs and Religious Beliefs. Reprint, New York: Grove/Atlantic. (Earlier editions: London: Kahn and Averill, 1985; Johannesburg, South Africa, Blue Crane Books, 1965)» — de la bibliografía: los libros de Credo Mutwa se listan bajo su propio nombre y con su historia editorial desde 1965, lo que lo sitúa como autor y no solo como informante
«Sagan, Carl. 1985. Contact. New York: Pocket Books. The 1997 film of the same name was based on this novel» — de la bibliografía: la obra cita *Contact* como novela y aclara que la película de 1997 se basa en ella; la Ellie Arroway que el cuerpo invoca es un personaje de ficción y la bibliografía lo declara
«Schild, Rudolf. 1994. Presentation at PEER forum, November. ———. 1998. Interview with author, December 30» — de la bibliografía: lo que el astrofísico Rudolf Schild aporta al libro son una ponencia en un foro de PEER y una entrevista con el autor, no publicaciones
«Sparks, James. 1996. Interview with author, July 15. ———. 2007. The Keepers. Columbus, NC: Granite Publishing, LLC» — de la bibliografía: junto a la entrevista de 1996 aparece un libro de Jim Sparks de 2007, ocho años posterior a la primera edición; la conmemorativa lo incorpora sin advertirlo
«Strieber, Whitley. 1987. Communion: A True Story. New York: Morrow/ Beech Tree Books. ———. 1996a. The Secret School: Preparation for Contact. New York: HarperCollins. ———. 1996b. Interview with the author, June 16» — de la bibliografía: de Whitley Strieber se citan libros y también una entrevista con el autor, de modo que funciona a la vez como obra citada y como informante
«1998. Unpublished letter to Michael and Ian Baldwin, June» — de la bibliografía: la carta de Strieber sobre implantes y alma se declara inédita y fechada en junio de 1998; la frase se corta al pasar de plana
«Thorne, Kip. 1994. Black Holes and Time Warps» — de la bibliografía: aquí sí aparece *Kip Thorne* con nombre completo. La búsqueda negativa que esta ficha documentaba valía para el cuerpo, no para el aparato final; la frase se corta al pasar de plana
«Tintinger, Lesley Ann. 1997. The KWA Vezilanga Cultural Village at Magaliesburg. Cramerview, South Africa: Works of Credo Mutwa» — de la bibliografía: la fuente sobre el terreno comprado para Credo Mutwa es una publicación privada de su propia organización, no un tercero independiente
«Vallee, Jacques. 1988. Dimensions: A Casebook of Alien Contact. Chicago, IL: Contemporary Books. ———. 1990. Confrontations: A Scientist’s Search for Alien Contact. New York: Ballantine Books. ———. 1992. Revelations: Alien Contact and Human Deception» — de la bibliografía: la obra lista tres libros de Jacques Vallee —*Dimensions*, *Confrontations* y *Revelations*—, de los cuales el cuerpo del libro solo cita el primero
«Williamson, Duncan. 1992. Tales of the Sea People. Northampton, MA: Interlink Publishing Group» — de la bibliografía: la fuente de los *silkies* de las Hébridas que Carol invoca es un libro de relatos recogidos por Duncan Williamson
«Wittgenstein, Ludwig. 1965.“A Lecture on Ethics.” The Philosophical Review, vol. 74 ( January), pp. 3–12» — de la bibliografía: la conferencia de ética de Wittgenstein que el capítulo 2 cita se referencia por su publicación de 1965, no por el manuscrito de los años treinta que el cuerpo fecha
«Zimmerman, Michael E. 1993.“Why Establishment Elites Resist the Very Idea of UFOs and Reported Alien Abductions.” Gulf Breeze UFO Conference, Pensacola, FL, October 22–24» — de la bibliografía: la primera entrada de Michael Zimmerman es una ponencia en una conferencia ufológica de Gulf Breeze, y no una publicación académica
«Zimmerman, Michael E. 2002. “Encountering Alien Otherness,” in Saunders, Rebecca (ed.). The Concept of the Foreign. Lanham, Maryland: Lexington Books, pp. 153–177» — de la bibliografía: la entrada de Zimmerman fechada en 2002 se imprime fuera de orden, entre las de 1993 y 1997, y es otra referencia posterior a la primera edición
«1998. “How Science and Society Respond to Extraordinary Patterns.” PEER Perspectives, no. 2, (Winter 1998), pp. 3–4. Cambridge, MA: Center for Psychology and Social Change» — de la bibliografía: la última entrada de Zimmerman se publica en el boletín de la propia institución del autor, dato de circuito editorial
«Richard Maurice Bucke—Cosmic Consciousness» — del catálogo de White Crow Books de 2011, que cierra el facsímil: la casa reedita a Bucke, no el autor lo cita
«The Earl of Dunraven—Experiences in Spiritualism with D. D. Home» — mismo catálogo del editor: reedita el testimonio de Dunraven sobre D. D. Home, el médium que el cuerpo del libro menciona por la anécdota de Crookes referida vía Harpur. La coincidencia es del catálogo, no del autor
«P.D. Ouspensky—Tertium Organum: The Third Canon of Thought» — mismo catálogo del editor: junto a Steiner y Swedenborg aparece el *Tertium Organum* de Ouspensky. Es publicidad de 2011 y no linaje declarado por Mack
«Allan Kardec—The Spirits Book» — mismo catálogo del editor: también el *Libro de los espíritus* de Allan Kardec, lo que muestra la orientación espiritista de la casa que reedita la obra
«All titles available as eBooks, and selected titles available in Hardback and Audiobook formats from www.whitecrowbooks.com» — cierre del catálogo del editor, con los formatos en que la conmemorativa se ofrece
«www.JohnEMackInstitute.org» — última plana del facsímil: la dirección del John E. Mack Institute, añadida por la edición conmemorativa posterior a la muerte del autor
Conceptos tratados
Daimon (entidad intermedia, ni ángel ni demonio) — Toma de Patrick Harpur la categoría de realidad daimónica para su objeto, la delimita en nota al pie frente a lo demónico, la extiende a los ovnis como realidades daimónicas por excelencia, y declara dónde no sigue a Harpur.
Iniciación (recepción por grados / metamorfosis del ser) — La homología con la iniciación chamánica la enuncia Nona sobre sí misma y Sue como rito de paso y noche oscura; el autor la generaliza en condicional, y consigna que entre curanderos indígenas el contacto parece formar parte del entrenamiento. La iniciación uru-ê wau-wau de Peixoto —tenderse sobre miel y hormigas guerreras— se describe como prueba de resistencia al dolor. La luz intensa se propone como inductor del estado alterado, al modo de las drogas, la música o el tambor del chamán, y la propuesta es de Sue.
Transvection (el traslado corporal por seres demoníacos) — El paso por la materia es rasgo central del relato típico: flotar a través de paredes, puertas o ventanas; Abby dice haber aprendido a convertir materia en no materia, y el autor subraya que los relatos independientes coinciden en el léxico de las células que se separan.
Secreto (lo que se jura no fijar por escrito) — El silencio es de los informantes, no del fenómeno: el asunto se declara sagrado y además expone al ridículo de pertenecer a una minoría; la palabra ikuya solo se pronuncia ante alguien de confianza; los africanos rehúsan hablar con extraños. En el otro extremo, Jim Sparks impulsa una amnistía para funcionarios que ocultaron información.
Imaginación (phantasia) — El autor rechaza expresamente que las visiones sean fantasía privada de los experienciantes, y sostiene que ninguna explicación psicodinámica cubre los elementos básicos del relato reproductivo.
Crítica de fuentes (criterios de inclusión y descarte) — Declara el método y sus límites en el mismo capítulo: el investigador condiciona el dato, los experienciantes eligen a quién contarle, y sobre sus informantes indígenas pesa la presión de complacerlo y no dejarlo ir con las manos vacías.
Anima mundi (alma del mundo) — El cosmos con alma es lo que el autor sitúa en Occidente hasta mediados del siglo XVIII, citando a Barrett 1976, y lo que la secularización habría clausurado; Thomas Berry le devuelve a la Tierra el rango de creación más fina de Dios, Credo Mutwa la llama mundo matriz y Carlos Diaz dice haber comprendido, al ver enlazarse los ecosistemas, que la Tierra está viva. Ninguna de las tres formulaciones es del autor.
Philosophia perennis (filosofía perenne) — Sostiene que prácticamente todas las tradiciones religiosas y espirituales comparten el conocimiento de un principio creador último, y enumera los nombres con que se le llama; toma de Huston Smith las tradiciones de sabiduría como vía de acceso a lo invisible, y propone que reconectar con ellas es la tarea de las culturas occidentales, citando a Metzner y a Smith.
Microcosmos (el hombre-mundo) — La correspondencia entre lo mínimo y lo máximo la formula Carlos Diaz a partir de las esferas de luz —la interacción de la partícula más pequeña con la más grande, con un deber específico para cada una— y de ahí pasa a la red de la vida y a la Tierra viva. Es formulación suya, recogida por el autor.
Quintaesencia (quinta essentia) — El término reaparece en la nota 3 al capítulo 4, y no por la vía de la tradición: el astrofísico Rudolf Schild le dice al autor que así se llama ahora la presión que hace que el universo se expanda a ritmo acelerado, contra lo que predecían las leyes conocidas. La obra no comenta la coincidencia con el quinto elemento de los alquimistas.
Gnosis (conocimiento salvífico) — El conocimiento directo es lo que la obra pone en lugar de la prueba: los pueblos originarios se apoyan, según el autor, en la experiencia directa y en estados alterados más que los clínicos formados en Occidente; Gary describe un estado en el que solo hay conocer; y Karin remata su visión diciéndose de pie ante el Uno que es ella misma. Ninguna de las tres formulaciones usa el término griego.