Phoenix
by Dale J. Sprague
Reveries
10.1997 For a period of time, some time in the early 1970s, there was much excitement in the science news about a new form of energy called "Psi." It was going to be introduced in an upcoming Physics Convention. This Psi energy was given to be evident from the Kirlian "phantom" effect, especially as seen by Kirlian photography on cut leaves. The Physics Convention convened, but the introduction of Psi was cancelled. It was pointed out that the Kirlian phenomenon and Psi could not be separated from the electricity required to produce the effect, and remains today, an electrochemical one.
Many people were let down. The anticipation was great...to sense, measure, analyze scientifically the substance souls are made of. The prospect of seeing the astral body, the ethereal double, its kinetic and communicative abilities excited everyone interested in the paranormal, and no doubt many previously not interested..but it was not to be, not yet anyway.
The study of ghosts and the paranormal resumed upon its anecdotal basis and by the recordings and correlations of electromagnetic instrumentation. Without the ability to directly sense the energy of astral matter, knowledge of the paranormal remains as innuendo..anecdote..correlation..all barely separated from the subjective realities of mystics, ancient or new age.
I remember being intrigued about the news. The introduction of a new energy! Acceptance by the hard core of the scientific community..the Physicists, themselves! I remember feeling surprised about it, and later perplexed that it was based on Kirlian photography, which I knew was charged by electricity. And later, I wasn't surprised at all about the news of why Psi was not introduced. Psi remains today..an idea, not a theory. There is still yet, the need for technology to generate Psi, and by it perceive directly the paranormal.
Several months later, I was sitting in my car by a friend's house, waiting for him to arrive. It was a bright, warm afternoon, and feeling drowsy, I dozed off into shallow slumber in the front of my car. After a hiatus, and blanketed by the warmth of the afternoon, I suddenly was more conscious after being disturbed by a noise. In the process of awakening, I saw only yellow light, which flooded my vision. It was very bright. It had a high albedo, and I blinked. When I blinked, the bright yellow was shuttered out by two rectangular openings. They closed and opened. Very mechanical, very much like a reflex. It momentarily interrupted the passage of light, dampening the effect of its albedo. Immediately thereafter, I became fully awakened and saw my car, the street, and my friend's house, and blinked, but this time with my eyelids.
I stared for a long time..pausing, as it were, in awe..remembering and wondering...what blinked! I saw it. I experienced it. Something conscious blinked before I saw the car, the house, the road. Something blinked from the brightness of the brilliant yellow light, which I knew must have been given by the sun. I still maintain my scientific discipline about Psi, but I never forgot...something blinked.