Pink Moan

August 11th, 2008 by Gnat

Something I’ve been interested in for a while now is the concept of bilocation, or the ability to appear in two separate places at the same time. According to the Wiki entry on bilocation, many of the 17th century saints experienced this phenomenon, as well as folks like Aleister Crowley. The Wiki entry defines bilocation as a physical, rather than spiritual, phenomenon. I don’t know how within the realm of physics this material duplication could ever be explained, so I am more inclined to think of bilocation as a phenomenon related to perception.

Carlos Castaneda writes a lot about energetic “doubles” that we all apparently possess. Our double is just as real as we are, it is a part of us. It is the “us” that travels in dreams and elsewhere, astrally, and at times manifests itself physically. In Tales of Power Castaneda’s Don Juan character calls upon his double to perform tricks of perception — like being on flat ground one moment then on a mountaintop the next. At one point in the book, Don Juan reveals to a terrified Castaneda that he, Castaneda, has interacted with the double, rather than the “real” Don Juan, on several occasions. Now, is this the same thing as a doppelgänger? The term doppelgänger can mean “look-alike” but generally it has more sinister connotations. Are our doubles are always sinister, ready to perform bizarre, evil-tinged tasks in the 5th dimension? Not necessarily. I like to think that our energetic doubles are amoral. They exist outside of normal space/time as non-dualistic beings, ungoverned by human inventions like “good” and “evil.” Perhaps that’s why doubles, or doppelgängers, get an ominous rap. On the flipside, Vladimir Nabokov explores the sinister aspect of the doppelgänger in his 1934 book Despair, whose main character Hermann is obsessed with executing the perfect crime — his own murder.

I have a friend who said she experienced a sort of astral projection once. She floated away and saw her body from the ceiling. Then, just as things were getting interesting, she was back inside her body and the whole experience was over. Another friend of mine, who now lives in Austin, says she likes to think part of her is still in New Orleans, her pre-Katrina home. She imagines her double going about business as usual in New Orleans, while she exists simultaneously in Austin. I love this notion, and haven’t been able to stop thinking about it since she shared it with me.

Perhaps the dream world serves as ground zero for interaction with our doubles. Maybe we share energy, foster ideas, make plans, etc., with our doubles in dreams. To borrow the title of a Delmore Schwartz short story, in dreams begin responsibilities. I know I’ve strayed off the topic of bilocation here, but doppelgängers, doubles and dreaming are all interrelated in my swirly mind. I’ll leave you with this dreamer’s call to arms, a clip from Waking Life: