The Primary World

Human beings exist in the Primary World but are anchored to its silhouette. Colonel Sir Geoffrey Maham said that we are like shadows to angels and demons, who are creatures of pure spirit. The shadow analogy was inadequate and flawed, but it quickly communicated the general concept.

Because we are only shadows, demons can’t harm us physically. If we were to become anchored to the Primary World, however, the situation would be different.

The Primary World = silhouette space + interstitial space. Anchored to silhouette, we can’t see or enter interstices—we pass them without knowing they are there. But we could enter interstices if we could anchor ourselves to the Primary World. Kirk Maham explained the situation in a letter. Here are excerpts:

Suppose you were in a hallway with an interstice... Suppose also that you were anchored to silhouette (as usual). Here’s what you would see and where you would be after taking seven steps:

If you were anchored to the Primary World instead, here’s what you would see and where you would be after taking seven steps:

Interstitial and silhouette spaces don’t always join neatly, but I gather that they do more often than you would expect.

What about vertical interstices?

You can see that someone anchored to the Primary World would have trouble with the 9th step from the top.

What would happen if an interstitial wall blocked a corridor? A person anchored to silhouette wouldn’t even know the wall was there and could walk freely through the corridor (as in the first figure above). But a person anchored to the Primary World would be blocked.

That creates interesting possibilities…