Post by auntym on Mar 7, 2015 15:59:13 GMT -6
www.theguardian.com/science/2015/mar/05/the-strange-world-of-felt-presences
The strange world of felt presences
Ben Alderson-Day and David Smailes
Thursday 5 March 2015
What links polar explorer Ernest Shackleton, sleep paralysis, and hearing voices?
On 5 December 1914, explorer Ernest Shackleton left South Georgia with his ship HMS Endurance, heading for Antarctica. Within weeks the crew had run into trouble. Heavy pack ice surrounded the vessel, and gradually began to crush the ship. Above, men play football on the floe while waiting for the ice to break up around the ship. Photograph: Scott Polar Research Institute, University of Cambridge/Getty Images
On 20 May 1916, Ernest Shackleton, Frank Worsley, and Tom Crean reached Stromness, a whaling station on the north coast of South Georgia. They had been walking for 36 hours, in life-threatening conditions, in an attempt to reach help for the rest of their party: three of their crew were stuck on the south side of the island, with the remainder stranded on Elephant Island. To reach the whaling station, the three men had to cross the island’s mountainous interior with just a rope and an axe, in a journey that few had attempted before or since. By reaching Stromness they managed to save all the men left from the ill-fated Imperial Transantarctic Expedition.
They did not talk about it at the time, but weeks later all three men reported an uncanny experience during their trek: a feeling that “often there were four, not three” men on their journey. The “fourth” that accompanied them had the silent presence of a real person, someone walking with them by their side, as far as the whaling station but no further. Shackleton was apparently deeply affected by the experience, but would say little about it in subsequent years, considering it something “which can never be spoken of”.
Encounters such as these are common in extreme survival situations: guardian angels, guides, or even Christ-like figures have often been reported. We know them now as “third man” experiences, following a line in TS Eliot’s poem, The Wasteland:
“Who is the third who walks always beside you? When I count, there are only you and I together. But when I look ahead up the white road, there is always another one walking beside you”
Eliot had heard of Shackleton’s encounter, but could not remember the precise details – meaning that the “fourth” man became the “third”.
In his book The Third Man Factor, John Geiger collects together a wide range of third man stories, including accounts from mountaineers, sailors, and survivors of terrorist attacks. They all involve a strong impression of a felt presence, sometimes with a voice or a shadow-like image, but often without a clear form. Extreme physical conditions, threat to life, and social isolation all seem to trigger the feeling of a presence, which will often feel as if it has a spiritual or guiding purpose.
In the case of the third man, it is tempting to think that strong feelings of presence act as some sort of hallucinatory defence mechanism – something that could happen to anyone, but only in very extreme scenarios. Such experiences are, however, also reported in much less dramatic circumstances. Following bereavement, for example, many people report sensing the presence of their deceased loved one; a feeling that someone is still in the house, just upstairs, or in their favourite chair.
Felt presences are common during the experience of sleep paralysis, when people have the feeling of being awake but not being able to move their body. Often this is accompanied by a sense of a presence in the room, along with physical sensations such as pressure on the chest and difficulty breathing. Feelings of presence also feature in particular neurological disorders – such as Parkinson’s disease – and cases of brain damage.
The different contexts in which felt presences occur give us some clues about what might be happening. For example, their association with bereavement suggests that emotional factors (eg, strong, persistent feelings of sadness), as well as strong expectations that another person ‘should’ be present, are important factors. In the case of Parkinson’s disease, they appear to occur most often in people who receive high doses of medication, suggesting that the neurotransmitter dopamine may well be involved in felt presence experiences.
CONTINUE READING: www.theguardian.com/science/2015/mar/05/the-strange-world-of-felt-presences
The strange world of felt presences
Ben Alderson-Day and David Smailes
Thursday 5 March 2015
What links polar explorer Ernest Shackleton, sleep paralysis, and hearing voices?
On 5 December 1914, explorer Ernest Shackleton left South Georgia with his ship HMS Endurance, heading for Antarctica. Within weeks the crew had run into trouble. Heavy pack ice surrounded the vessel, and gradually began to crush the ship. Above, men play football on the floe while waiting for the ice to break up around the ship. Photograph: Scott Polar Research Institute, University of Cambridge/Getty Images
On 20 May 1916, Ernest Shackleton, Frank Worsley, and Tom Crean reached Stromness, a whaling station on the north coast of South Georgia. They had been walking for 36 hours, in life-threatening conditions, in an attempt to reach help for the rest of their party: three of their crew were stuck on the south side of the island, with the remainder stranded on Elephant Island. To reach the whaling station, the three men had to cross the island’s mountainous interior with just a rope and an axe, in a journey that few had attempted before or since. By reaching Stromness they managed to save all the men left from the ill-fated Imperial Transantarctic Expedition.
They did not talk about it at the time, but weeks later all three men reported an uncanny experience during their trek: a feeling that “often there were four, not three” men on their journey. The “fourth” that accompanied them had the silent presence of a real person, someone walking with them by their side, as far as the whaling station but no further. Shackleton was apparently deeply affected by the experience, but would say little about it in subsequent years, considering it something “which can never be spoken of”.
Encounters such as these are common in extreme survival situations: guardian angels, guides, or even Christ-like figures have often been reported. We know them now as “third man” experiences, following a line in TS Eliot’s poem, The Wasteland:
“Who is the third who walks always beside you? When I count, there are only you and I together. But when I look ahead up the white road, there is always another one walking beside you”
Eliot had heard of Shackleton’s encounter, but could not remember the precise details – meaning that the “fourth” man became the “third”.
In his book The Third Man Factor, John Geiger collects together a wide range of third man stories, including accounts from mountaineers, sailors, and survivors of terrorist attacks. They all involve a strong impression of a felt presence, sometimes with a voice or a shadow-like image, but often without a clear form. Extreme physical conditions, threat to life, and social isolation all seem to trigger the feeling of a presence, which will often feel as if it has a spiritual or guiding purpose.
In the case of the third man, it is tempting to think that strong feelings of presence act as some sort of hallucinatory defence mechanism – something that could happen to anyone, but only in very extreme scenarios. Such experiences are, however, also reported in much less dramatic circumstances. Following bereavement, for example, many people report sensing the presence of their deceased loved one; a feeling that someone is still in the house, just upstairs, or in their favourite chair.
Felt presences are common during the experience of sleep paralysis, when people have the feeling of being awake but not being able to move their body. Often this is accompanied by a sense of a presence in the room, along with physical sensations such as pressure on the chest and difficulty breathing. Feelings of presence also feature in particular neurological disorders – such as Parkinson’s disease – and cases of brain damage.
The different contexts in which felt presences occur give us some clues about what might be happening. For example, their association with bereavement suggests that emotional factors (eg, strong, persistent feelings of sadness), as well as strong expectations that another person ‘should’ be present, are important factors. In the case of Parkinson’s disease, they appear to occur most often in people who receive high doses of medication, suggesting that the neurotransmitter dopamine may well be involved in felt presence experiences.
CONTINUE READING: www.theguardian.com/science/2015/mar/05/the-strange-world-of-felt-presences