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Abstract

This paper describes the author’s clairvoyant visions of war and personal experiences of transrational knowledges. It is an account of one Westerner coming to know outside of and despite Western episteme. Transrational knowing was modelled by companion dogs in the author’s childhood and literary figures in early adulthood, and was experienced as a means of self-protection. Western culture fosters skepticism about transrational knowledges, such as psychic visions and telepathic connections. This paper asserts that transrational knowing—whether between humans, other species, or humans and other species—is a valid and readily available form of knowing that exists outside of and in spite of Western episteme. Western understanding of the nature of being, the nature of relating, and the capacity for knowing has been reduced by a particular form of material-oriented rationality that is overdue for re-envisioning. Despite pervasive epistemological pressures, some individuals experience and learn to cultivate seemingly alternative ways of knowing. In doing so, they are turning toward knowledges that arise from an illuminating love and, thus, can be subtle, variable, and highly contextual, unlike knowledges that arise from intellect, which tend to be consistent and predictable. The illusory perception that humans are fundamentally separated from each other and from more-than-human kin constitutes one form of fragmentation that has resulted in ecological and humanitarian disasters. Love, on the other hand, engenders links us with others in ways that both relate to and transcend materiality and the five senses.

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