Bilocation

Bilocation, or sometimes multilocation, is a term used to describe the ability/instances in which an individual or object is said to be, or appears to be, located in two distinct places at the same instant in time.^[1][2][3][4] The term has been used in a wide range of historical and philosophical systems, including early Greek philosophy,^[5][6][7][8] shamanism,^{[5][6][7][8][9][10][11]} paganism,^[11] folklore,^[8][12] occultism and magic,^[13][14][15] the paranormal,^[16][17][18] Hinduism (as one of the siddhis),^{[5][6][19][20]} Buddhism,^[21][22] spiritualism, Theosophy,^[10][15] the New Age^[23][24][25] and mysticism in general,^[26] as well as Christian mysticism^[6][27] and Jewish mysticism.^[28]

In religion and mysticism

Several Christian saints and monks are said to have exhibited bilocation. Among the earliest is the apparition of Our Lady of the Pillar in the year 40. In another instance, in 1774, St. Alphonsus Liguori is said to have gone into a trance while preparing for Mass. When he came out of the trance he reported that he had visited the bedside of the dying Pope Clement XIV. His presence is then said to have been confirmed by those attending the Pope despite his being four days travel away, and not appearing to have left his original location. Other Christian figures said to have experienced it include St. Anthony of Padua, Ursula Micaela Morata, St. Gerard Majella, Charles of Mount Argus, St. Pio of Pietrelcina,^[29] St. Severus of Ravenna, St. Ambrose of Milan, María de Ágreda,^[30] and St. Martin de Porres, as well as Pope Cyril VI of Alexandria.

In the 17th century, persons accused of witchcraft were reported to appear in dreams and visions of witnesses. The trials at Bury St. Edmunds and Salem included this "Spectral evidence" against defendants. Matthew Hopkins described the phenomenon in his book The Discovery of Witches.

The English occultist Aleister Crowley was reported by acquaintances to have the ability, even though he himself was not conscious of its happening at the time.^[31]

In popular culture

• In the thirty-first minute of episode 619 of the American television show Mystery Science Theater 3000 head writer Michael J. Nelson's character quips, "Hey, quit bilocating!" in reference to the incongruous editing of the featured film, Red Zone Cuba.
• In David Lynch's 1997 film Lost Highway, the character commonly referred to as "the Mystery Man" appears to be capable of bilocation.
• In the 1982 feature film thriller Poltergeist, the gateway to the afterlife is referred to as the "area of bilocation".
• Thomas Pynchon's novel Against the Day features bilocation as one of its major themes.
• In the novel That Hideous Strength by C. S. Lewis, John Wither, one of the main antagonists, appears to use bilocation on two occasions to deter Mark Studdock from defecting from the N.I.C.E.; the narrative indicates, however, that this may be either actual bilocation by Wither or some form of poltergeist activity.

See also

• Apparitional experience
• Doppelgänger
• Etiäinen
• Flying saints
• Remote viewing
• Tay al-Ard

References

1. ^ "Bilocation" in the 1913 Catholic Encyclopedia.
2. ^ McGoven, Una (2007). Chambers Dictionary of the Unexplained. Chambers (published December 19, 2007). p. 68. ISBN 978-0550102157. http://www.amazon.com/Chambers-Dictionary-Unexplained-Una-McGovern/dp/0550102159 
3. ^ Spence, Lewis (2003) "Encyclopedia of Occultism and Parapsychology: Part 2", Kessinger Publishing, ISBN 0766128172
4. ^ American Society for Psychical Research (1907) "An interesting case of Bilocation", American Society for Psychical Research, The Journal of the American Society for Psychical Research, V44-45
5. ^ ^{a b c} McEvilley, Thomas (2002). The Shape of Ancient Thought: Comparative Studies in Greek and Indian Philosophies. Allworth Communications. pp. 102, 262. ISBN 1581152035. 
6. ^ ^{a b c d} Riedweg, Christoph; Steven Rendall (2005). Pythagoras: His Life, Teaching, and Influence. Cornell University Press. p. 4. ISBN 0801442400. 
7. ^ ^{a b} Dodds, E. R. (2004). The Greeks and the Irrational. University of California Press. p. 145. ISBN 052024230. 
8. ^ ^{a b c} Znamenski, Andrei A. (2004). Shamanism: Critical Concepts in Sociology. New York: Routledge. pp. 248–249. ISBN 0415332486. 
9. ^ Fenn, Richard K.; Donald Capps (1995). On Losing the Soul: Essays in the Social Psychology of Religion. SUNY Press. pp. 243–4. ISBN 0791424936. 
10. ^ ^{a b} Gardner, J., Faiths of the Word, cited in Tylor Sir, Edward Burnett (1920). Primitive Culture: Researches Into the Development of Mythology, Philosophy, Religion, Language, Art, and Custom. J. Murray. p. 448. ISBN 111219097X. 
11. ^ ^{a b} York, Michael (2005). Pagan Theology: Paganism as a World Religion. NYU Press. p. 41. ISBN 0814797083. 
12. ^ Synge, John Millington; Tim Robinson (1992). The Aran Islands. Penguin Classics. p. 148. ISBN 0140184325. 
13. ^ Harris, Dean W. R. (2006). Essays in Occultism, Spiritism and Demonology. Kessinger Publishing. pp. 46–66. ISBN 142860202X. 
14. ^ Olliver, C. W.. Analysis of Magic and Witchcraft. Kessinger Publishing, 2003. pp. 117, 155–6. ISBN 0766156990. 
15. ^ ^{a b} Olcott, Henry Steel (1895). Old Diary Leaves: The True Story of the Theosophical Society. G. P. Putnam's Sons. p. 388. ISBN 052407951X. 
16. ^ LeShan, Lawrence L. (2004). The World of the Paranormal: The Next Frontier. Allworth Communications, Inc.,. pp. 51, 121. ISBN 1581153600. 
17. ^ Ramsland, Katherine (2002). Ghost: Investigating the Other Side. Macmillan. p. 27. ISBN 0312983735. 
18. ^ Seymour, Percy (2003). The Third Level of Reality: A Unified Theory of the Paranormal. Cosimo, Inc.. p. 146. ISBN 1931044473. 
19. ^ Yoga Sutras of Patanjali cited in Yogananda, Paramahansa. Autobiography of a Yogi. Diamond Pocket Books. p. 29. ISBN 8190256203. 
20. ^ Yoga Sutras of Patanjali cited in O'Brien, Justin (1996). A Meeting of Mystic Paths: Christianity and Yoga. Yes International Publishers. pp. 29, 140. ISBN 0936663146. 
21. ^ Comfort, Alex (1984). Reality and Empathy: Physics, Mind, and Science in the 21st Century. SUNY Press. p. 42. ISBN 0873957628. 
22. ^ Vetterling, Herman (2003). Illuminate of Gorlitz Or Jakob Bohme's Life and Philosophy Part 3: V. 3. Kessinger Publishing. p. 967. ISBN 0766147886. 
23. ^ Prophet, Elizabeth Clare (2001). The Masters and the Spiritual Path. Summit University Press. p. 331. ISBN 0922729646. 
24. ^ Waterfield, Robin (2002). Rene Guenon and the Future of the West: The Life and Writings of a 20th-Century Metaphysician. Sophia Perennis. p. 72. ISBN 090058887X. 
25. ^ Hollenback, Jess Byron (1996). Mysticism: Experience, Response, and Empowerment. Penn State Press. p. 137. ISBN 0271015527. 
26. ^ Herzog, Johann Jakob; Philip Schaff, Samuel Macauley Jackson, Albert Hauck, Charles Colebrook Sherman, George William Gilmore, Lefferts A. Loetscher (1910). The New Schaff-Herzog Encyclopedia of Religious Knowledge: Embracing Biblical, Historical, Doctrinal, and Practical Theology and Biblical, Theological, and Ecclesiastical Biography from the Earliest Times to the Present Day. Funk and Wagnalls Company. p. 69. 
27. ^ Encyclopaedia of Religion and Ethics. T. & T. Clark. 1917. p. 101. 
28. ^ Samuel, Gabriella (2007). The Kabbalah Handbook: A Concise Encyclopedia of Terms and Concepts in Jewish Mysticism. Jeremy P. Tarcher. p. 51. ISBN 1585425605. 
29. ^ Day, Malcolm (September 2002). "Blood brother: Padre Pio". Fortean Times. http://www.forteantimes.com/features/articles/228/blood_brother_padre_pio.html 
30. ^ This holy virgin burned with a most ardent love for God and for the salvation of souls. One day, she beheld in a vision all the nations of the world. She saw the greater part of men were deprived of God's grace, and running headlong to everlasting perdition. She saw how the Indians of Mexico put fewer obstacles to the grace of conversion than any other nation who were out of the Catholic Church, and how God, on this account, was ready to show mercy to them. Hence she redoubled her prayers and penances to obtain for them the grace of conversion. God heard her prayers. He commanded her to teach the Catholic religion to those Mexican Indians. From that time, she appeared, by way of bilocation, to the savages, not less than five hundred times, instructing them in all the truths of our holy religion, and performing miracles in confirmation of these truths. When all were converted to the faith, she told them that religious priests would be sent by God to receive them into the Church by baptism. As she had told, so it happened. God, in his mercy, sent to these good Indians several Franciscan fathers, who were greatly astonished when they found those savages fully instructed in the Catholic doctrine. When they asked the Indians who had instructed them, they were told that a holy virgin appeared among them many times, and taught them the Catholic religion and confirmed it by miracles. (Life of the Venerable Mary of Jesus of Agreda, § xii.) Thus those good Indians were brought miraculously to the knowledge of the true religion in the Catholic Church, because they followed their conscience in observing the natural law. Muller, Michael. The Catholic Dogma: "Extra Ecclesiam Nullus omnino Salvatur"
31. ^ Booth Martin (2000) "A Magick Life: Biography of Aleister Crowley", Hodder & Stoughton Ltd, ISBN 0340718056