Survey Time

[Gregory Paul Stolze]

At 08:53 PM 2/18/99 -0800, Ian Young wrote:
>So, you see, when I read about The Flying Woman, I found it all rather
>spooky, wondering upon what inspiration the author had drawn, and if he was
>familiar with other such stories.  John?  Greg?  Care to shed a little
>light on this?

I think it was mostly John's idea, wasn't it?

Ian, did you ever read "Song of Solomon" by Toni Morrison?  Flight is a theme.

I wonder if the perception of flying through space (without actually
flying) has anything to do with the phenomenon of perceptual projection.
(Julian Jaynes brought this to my attention in his book "The Origin of
Consciousness" and I also heard some stuff about it while working for some
social workers who had some dissociative clients.)  

Anyhow.  Perceptual projection works like this.  Picture yourself the last
time you cooked an egg on the stove or went to get your mail - some common
physical activity.  Now: what was the perspective of the memory?  Did you
remember seeing your hands working the fry pan or reaching for the mailbox,
or did you picture how you looked standing by the stove or the mailbox?
Most people picture themselves from outside themselves: instead of the
eye-view, which is what you ACTUALLY perceived, you remember yourself as if
you were watching from a different perspective.  Just like people having
near death experiences often feel like they're floating above the operating
table.  Just like dissociative personalities often report a feeling of
literally being on the outside looking in as things are done to their
bodies.  

To stretch a little for a "rational explanation" of your sister and
mother's flights, how does this sound?  In both instances they briefly
passed out and went limp - often the best thing you can do when falling.
After impact, they wandered around in a brief fugue of shock before
snapping out of it.  Their memories stitched together the experience in the
most direct fashion.

Or maybe they just flew.  Dunno.

-G.
1899 Phrenologist: Your son has the sloping forehead of a sexual deviant:
better put him in an asylum.
1999 Gene Therapist: Your fetus has the "date rape" gene.  Better abort.