0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2 3 4 5 6
When the Extraordinary Hits Home
feel and perceive things (Leavitt 1996 )? Can we assume that our ex-
periences of the extraordinary are the same as those of others?
Some anthropologists believe their experiences of trance states are
definitely different from those of their informants; others are con-
vinced they are the same. Peters ( 1981 ), who worked in Nepal, finds
his experience of trance “unproblematic” as a means of understanding
the worldview of those he studied.^20 Desjarlais ( 1992 , 14 – 15 ) notes
that his cultural experience had not conditioned him for trance. In
contrast, my background (experiences of meditation using a mantra,
hypnotherapy) had prepared me to some degree. Still, the question
remains: can we be sure that our experience of phenomena such as
trance, clairvoyance, and healing is the same as theirs?
I would suggest that we cannot be sure; indeed, can we ever be sure
that a common experience is shared identically by all participants?
How can we be sure that our experience is radically different from
that of others? The Spiritualists collaborating in my research have
very different types of experiences from each other; one cannot speak
of a homogenous “them” in this regard. My experiences are differ-
ent from those of others, but from my dialogues with the Spiritual-
ists I have interviewed, I cannot say that they are more different than
anyone else’s. True, having a research agenda affects how one experi-
ences a situation, group, or context. Yet the nature of extraordinary
experience is that it requires that that research agenda be bracketed,
set aside, if only temporarily.
As we have seen, healing and clairvoyance happen differently for the
same individual doing them from one occasion to another. While such
variation is easy to see in a complex society, I believe that when Vic-
tor Turner speaks of getting to know participants in ritual processes
as “unique individuals, each with a style and soul of his or her own,”
he was suggesting that heterogeneity and idiosyncrasy are part of re-
ligious activities (V. Turner 1975 , 28 – 29 , in E. Turner 1996 , xxiii).
Such is certainly the case with the Cape Verdean ritual specialists I
have known. As for the Spiritualist research, I would say that my ex-
periences of healing and clairvoyance are comparable to those of oth-
ers, in the sense that we understand each other when talking about
them. As mentioned earlier, some feel heat in their hands when giving
