A Humble Beginning

When I was pursuing my degree in the History of Consciousness at the University of California at Santa Cruz, I helmed a study of Near Death Experiences, or NDE’s, as part of my thesis project. I posted a notice around campus:

TUNNEL OF LIGHT?
FEELING OF ONENESS WITH THE UNIVERSE?
You may be eligible to take part in a University-funded study
Please contact Rodrigo Weiss, XXX-XXX-XXXX

The response was overwhelming. I met with any number of hallucinogenic drug users, eastern religion enthusiasts, a few Pentecostals, and the entire cast of a local Rocky Horror Picture Show (Saturdays at 1:00am, Del Mar Theater).

My advisor later told me I should have been more specific in the ad. In hindsight, this recommendation seems obvious, especially in a place like Santa Cruz; at the time, I was too engrossed in my work to take much notice of the social construct of my surroundings, though I did enjoy a very impressive selection of coffee products (a selection I find sorely lacking in Los Angeles).

The study did, however, turn up a few interesting leads. Though the traditional NDE experience was cogently argued to be the result of a number of processes set in motion due to anoxia. I discovered a number of individuals who experienced the inverse of the traditional NDE: a swirling black void, and a feeling of intense isolation.

My meetings with these individuals turned out to be fortuitous; they introduced me to a community whose nature I initially doubted, but whose characteristics I began to see mirrored in sources both historical and contemporary. Eventually I realized I had stumbled not only onto a hitherto unrecognized subculture, but rather an entirely new race, whose existence through the ages has been either ignored or actively suppressed.

(If this sounds unlikely, as it indeed did to me, one need look no further than the melungeons of the Southern Appalachians, who are currently being denied the status of “race” by the Academic community)

Of course I am speaking about the tzombi population. Though my initial discoveries took place in North America, specifically California, more specifically the Santa Cruz area, I soon embarked upon a new course of study which took me to five continents. In some quarters my work was viewed with interest, in others with disdain and even scorn. In this pursuit I keep company with many great men, and I shall make a valiant attempt to maintain my place among them, not through any intrinsic worth of my own, but through the profundity of my discovery.

Just for the record: I don’t for a moment regret my abandonment of the History of Consciousness degree (regardless of what the transcripts might say, I made the choice to leave the University, I was not officially forced out by the faculty).