122 lines
6.9 KiB
Plaintext
122 lines
6.9 KiB
Plaintext
SUBJECT: TEMPORAL LOBE EPILEPSY FILE: UFO1580
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
For MUFON MUFONET-BBS Network - Mutual UFO Network Copyright 1991
|
|
Field ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Mutual UFO
|
|
Investigators The Investigator's Edge, No. 11 Network
|
|
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
|
|
TEMPORAL LOBE EPILEPSY
|
|
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
|
|
|
|
By Robert J. Durrant
|
|
|
|
[Note: Mr. Durrant is a member and contributing writer for the New Jersey
|
|
MUFON Chapter, and current State Section Director for Mercer County.]
|
|
|
|
Epilepsy...a chronic nervous disease, characterized by fits, occurring at
|
|
intervals and attended by convulsive motions of the muscles and loss of
|
|
consciousness. So says the dictionary, and the man-on-the-street would agree.
|
|
|
|
The sort of epilepsy described above results from irregular electrical
|
|
functioning in those parts of the brain that control many of the muscles. As
|
|
the ability to monitor the brain's electrical activity developed, it became
|
|
obvious that other parts of the brain are similarly prone to the haphazard
|
|
currents that produce the physical, convulsive type of epilepsy. Of
|
|
particular interest to this discussion is epilepsy of the temporal lobes of
|
|
the brain. These areas control what is often called the "higher functions" of
|
|
the brain/mind. That is, "..accessing declarative memory, the conscious or
|
|
active recall of not only what was learned but when and where it was acquired,
|
|
and with attributing personal meaning or significance to the constant stream
|
|
of sensory input."
|
|
|
|
What happens when this portion of the brain suffers an epileptic event? The
|
|
subject does not thrash about---the temporal lobe doesn't have any connection
|
|
with the muscles. Instead, he tends to have experiences that could be called
|
|
mystical or paranormal, a sense of a very special purpose in life, or he
|
|
imbues unusual events with great and unrealistic meaning. These are not just
|
|
vague and generalized feelings. Often they are extremely intense and at times
|
|
are described as "more real than real."
|
|
|
|
In some cases this form of epilepsy is so vivid and frequent that a formal
|
|
psychiatric and neurological diagnosis of temporal lobe epilepsy is possible.
|
|
But the usual case seems to present only occasional events. As with any
|
|
medical condition, the person afflicted is not likely to seek help unless the
|
|
condition is painful or debilitating. A positive diagnosis is possible, but a
|
|
negative diagnosis is speculative at best. In other words, it is not within
|
|
the state of the art of today's medical technology to say definitely that nay
|
|
given patient does not have temporal lobe epilepsy.
|
|
|
|
Whitley Strieber, author of Communion, Transformation, and Majestic, underwent
|
|
two series of tests for temporal lobe epilepsy. Both were negative. Per the
|
|
remarks above, and by his own admission, that still leaves open the option
|
|
that he does suffer from the condition. But it would indicate that the
|
|
condition occurs only sporadically, if at all. It is certainly to Strieber's
|
|
credit that he went to such lengths to preclude a psychiatric foundation for
|
|
his abduction experiences. In addition to the general symptoms listed above,
|
|
there exists a set of quite intriguing specific symptoms of temporal lobe
|
|
epilepsy. They are as follows:
|
|
|
|
1. Paranormal/mystical experiences
|
|
2. Enhanced imaginings (especially from childhood)
|
|
3. Widening affect
|
|
4. Vestibular (floating, low frequency vibration) sensations
|
|
5. Anomalous smells
|
|
6. Intense episodes of personal meaning
|
|
|
|
With this set of symptoms in mind, I reviewed the three Strieber books related
|
|
to UFO's and abductions. My goal was to determine if there exists in that
|
|
body of writing a clearly repeated emphasis on these topics. Communion and
|
|
it's sequel Transformation can fairly be said to be continuous reiterations of
|
|
symptoms 1,2,3,4 (floating) and 6. Majestic is a fictionalized rendering of
|
|
the Roswell crash and it's aftermath. It should be distinguished from the
|
|
previous two books, which are veridical and autobiographical. One would
|
|
expect to find that Majestic presents few, if any, of the temporal lobe
|
|
symptoms. This on the theory that the autobiographical abduction accounts
|
|
were produced subsequent to epileptic events, but that the deliberate fiction
|
|
writing would be free of the symptomology.
|
|
|
|
My analysis shows that most of the symptoms are present in greatly reduced
|
|
intensity in Majestic compared with the previous books. But oddly, symptom 4
|
|
is there in complete form, with both floating as well as low frequency
|
|
vibrations, and so is symptom 5, which is nearly absent in the earlier works,
|
|
but here erupts repeatedly, indeed, so common are references to these two
|
|
symptoms in Majestic that I have systematically culled them out of the text
|
|
and listed them serially below. Perhaps their concatenated, seemingly
|
|
obsessive use is merely a literary device. certainly Strieber is a master of
|
|
the thriller, and I will defer to him on this point, but it does seem strained
|
|
and unnatural to my eye. The simple interpretation of this analysis is that
|
|
Strieber is clearly suffering from temporal lobe epilepsy. As with everything
|
|
else in UFOlogy, and particularly the abduction phenomenon, quick judgments
|
|
are dangerous.
|
|
|
|
Several other optional interpretations are possible, and I will summarize them
|
|
here with the understanding that in future articles they will be expanded.
|
|
First, that most if not all persons who have close encounters with UFO's
|
|
suffer, among a variety of other physiological effects, disruption of the
|
|
electrical functions of the brain, including the temporal lobe area. because
|
|
of the peculiarities of the temporal lobe, "flashbacks" can occur throughout
|
|
life after the initial triggering event. It is unlikely that monitoring of
|
|
the electrical pulses of the brain would reveal the irregularities associated
|
|
with clinical diagnosis of temporal lobe epilepsy. Second, it may be that
|
|
external means of controlling or communicating with the temporal lobe regions
|
|
is the means by which the aliens deal with abductees. In addition to the
|
|
positive communications or signals, the process may well include generation of
|
|
"noise" both during the communication and, per the remarks above, long after
|
|
the communications.
|
|
|
|
This option may seem absurdly speculative, but in fact it is based on
|
|
laboratory work that has been carried out for several years. Subjects have
|
|
had their temporal lobes excited by external electromagnetic radiations, with
|
|
the result that many of them experience visions and sensations remarkably
|
|
similar to the standard abduction. This will also be covered in detail in
|
|
future articles.
|
|
|
|
=END=
|
|
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
|
|
|
|
**********************************************
|
|
* THE U.F.O. BBS - http://www.ufobbs.com/ufo *
|
|
********************************************** |