"Love the book - the source of knowledge!" - this was the slogan of the Soviet era. But knowledge is, first of all, information. And information, in turn, is a special kind of matter. At least that's what parapsychologists think. According to many of them, books are living beings that can directly or indirectly influence people.
Library Patrons
There are many strange phenomena associated with books. First of all, we are talking about so-called coincidences. Many people tell how, having picked up, for example, a thick reference book, they randomly opened it to the page they needed!
Even more amazing things happen. So. English writer Rebecca West once went to the library at the Royal Institute of International Affairs to find materials there to work on a book on the Nuremberg Trials. But she could not find the literature she needed. The librarian couldn't help either. Then Rebecca hastily grabbed the first book she came across from the shelf - it turned out to be the one she was looking for, and in her hands the volume was opened on the page containing the information the writer needed!
The writer Derek Walters somehow needed a rare book in Chinese. He went to one of the university libraries and started looking. But they were unsuccessful, and none of the librarians knew Chinese. And suddenly, just as Walters was about to leave the library incessantly, the necessary tome fell from the shelf right in front of him!
A similar story happened to the author of this article. While working on one of my books, Numbers and Fates, I needed information about the poet Velimir Khlebnikov. I remembered that there was his biography at home, but I didn't know exactly on which shelf to look for it. When I opened the bookcase, a book literally fell on my head. Needless to say, this was just the biography of Khlebnikov!
It is difficult to explain by chance what happened to the famous actor Anthony Hopkins. He was invited to play the lead role in the thriller "The Girl from Petrovka". He wanted to find the book on which the script for the picture was written, but for some reason he could not succeed. And then one day, on a bench in one of the metro stations, the actor saw a copy of that same novel forgotten by someone! Later, he met with the author of the book, and he told that he had borrowed a copy of the novel with notes made in it to a friend in London. Hopkins showed him a book he found on the subway. Scrolling through it, the writer found on the pages of his own handwritten notes …
Promotional video:
The philosopher and writer Arthur Koestler believed that all so-called accidents have a scientific basis. He even coined the term "library patron", meaning a certain pattern. managing the search for information in book sources.
Live "Internet"
It often happens that when we begin to collect information about something or work on something, information on the same topic unexpectedly falls into our hands. And often without any effort on our part. But sometimes it dramatically changes our plans. So, Arthur Conan Doyle, while working on a new book, came across one of Guy de Maupassant's novels in the library. Oh God! - the plot of the novel coincided in detail with the plot of the work conceived by Conan Doyle, including even the scene of action - a hotel in Switzerland! Before that, the writer had never seen Maupassant's book and, therefore, could not even unconsciously use her idea. The nearly finished manuscript was immediately thrown into the fireplace …
According to parapsychologists, this kind of coincidence is a manifestation of the influence of the information field - an energy-vibration substance that permeates the Universe. When searching for any information, the human brain, as it were, connects to this substance and begins to attract everything it needs, just like we are looking for information on the Internet.
Forbidden
Alas, a book as a concentrate of information can also carry a potential danger to people. There are books that, while being of great value, nevertheless bring people unhappiness in one way or another. As a rule, their content is associated with mysticism, occultism, magic. Esoteric experts believe that all this is forbidden knowledge, available only to initiates, and their wide distribution and use can lead to the most unpredictable consequences …
Let us remember Doctor Faust - after all, it was the spells contained in the book of Kabbalah that ruined his soul! The inquisitive scientist, not understanding the true essence of demonology, dared to call Mephistopheles and turn to him with a personal request, for which he paid …
The French historian Jacques Bergier, in his writings, mentions a certain sacred alliance created to destroy the sources of occult knowledge. Indeed, evidence of such an alliance is rooted in the distant past. So, in Ancient India and China there was a practice of confiscation and destruction of "forbidden" manuscripts …
The English romantic poet Samuel Coleridge was once visited by a stranger who identified himself as a resident of the village of Porlock and prevented him from completing his poem Kubla Khan. Coleridge was convinced that this man’s visit under some far-fetched pretext was not accidental. According to the poet, he belonged to a secret society, whose members somehow found out about the poem and did not want its completion. After the uninvited guest left, the poet could no longer write a single line. He called the mysterious organization to which his visitor belonged, "People of Porlock" …
In 1885, unknown people threatened the death of the writer Saint-Yves d'Alvey, demanding that he destroy the entire circulation of his book “India's Mission in Europe and European Mission in Asia. The problem of mahatmas and its solution”. He followed the order. Yet one single copy miraculously survived and was published in 1909 in a small print run. But in 1940, the Germans who occupied Paris destroyed all copies of this book. Obviously, its content could threaten the well-being of the Third Reich, whose leaders were very inclined towards the occult …
In 1897, someone approached the children of the late legendary occultist, writer Stanislas de Guaita and, under pain of reprisals, ordered them to burn four unpublished manuscripts of their father concerning black magic. The heirs had to obey …
In 1933, in Germany, the Nazis burned all available copies of the Rosicrucians. To the history of the Reformation …
One of the most famous "forbidden" books is the Necronomicon. No one knows exactly when it was written. The mystic writer Howard Lovecraft claimed to be its author, but some researchers have argued that he simply heard excerpts from this essay from his wife Sonia Greene, before the marriage of one of the followers of the Satanist leader Aleister Crowley.
In the early 1930s, all copies of the Necron and Kon disappeared without a trace. All subsequent reprints of this work are only options for a free presentation of the book …
Devilry around "Devilry"
According to parapsychologists, it is not only the dangerous content of literature on mystical and occult topics. These books also have a far from favorable energy. It is noticed that often with people who are actively interested in occultism, reading the relevant literature, various misfortunes occur: diseases, catastrophes. loss of loved ones, dismissal from work, and so on.
While working on my first book "Devilry - incomprehensible or unknown?", I remember that the letter "u" began to disappear from the title in an incomprehensible way. I close the computer file with the text of the book - everything is fine, I open it again - the letter "u" has disappeared! I try to put it in its place - it doesn't work, there is a gap … And what began when I had to hand over the book to the publisher! When drawing up a publishing agreement, the computer hung up several times for some unknown reason … When I urgently needed to print the text of the work, my home printer began to "glitch", and the chair under me suddenly shattered into pieces for no reason. But I persisted and did the job to the end. And then the publishing house suddenly disappeared somewhere CDs with versions of my manuscript!
However, this did not end there. On the eve of the presentation of the book in a Moscow bookstore, the organizers had to put on the table at which I was sitting, a sign with my name and the title of the book. However, the printer, for some unknown reason, flatly refused to print the word "incomprehensible." So it remained in the tablet: "Devilry - unknown." Maybe it was some kind of sign indicating that the unknown is still not incomprehensible?
Irina Shlionskaya. Magazine "Secrets of the XX century" No. 15 2010