Virtual Religion, the Fantastic, and Electronic Ontology

Western modes of thinking are usually associated with logic, reason, rationality and the positivist scientific paradigm. This is juxtaposed against “spiritual” ways of perceiving the world and different world views as associated with non-Western contexts. The article explores negotiations of differing ontologies where the positivist paradigm fails to explain phenomena. The possibilities of ascribing truth and reality to such an encounter are sought here in literary theory of the fantastic and notions of the surreal. These scientifically unexplainable events are illustrated with reference to the pro-filmic experiences of particular documentary crews, explained through Todorov's literary theory of the fantastic, incorporating the uncanny and the marvelous.