History of the birth of the concept of Autistan, and its link with Passion Island (Clipperton Island)

Warning : it will take you a lot of time to read this article, it is very long.

Introduction

I am writing this article at the request of the geographer Christian Jost, specialist in Passion Island (a.k.a. Clipperton Island), for the quarterly newsletter (spring 2018) from the Association CPOM (Clipperton Overseas Projects), that he animates.

The reader / the reader will not fail to ask herself what connection could there possibly be between autism and this island?.
This is why I wanted to start this article by summarizing discovering my autism, followed by that of “l’Autistan“ (thanks to Josef Schovanec), then finally my unique encounter with Passion Island.

The resulting article – long enough – is cut out on this page in 3 parties, of which here are the titles and shortcuts :

Autism and Passion (1) : Improbabilities, intuitions and discoveries

Autism and Passion (2) : Natural and existential coincidences

Autism and Passion (3) : The possibilities of an island

Many of the explanations on this page would not have their place in the CPOM bulletin, of which the article will mainly mention the most relevant extracts, and will invite its readers to consult this complete article to find out more.

Writing this article allowed me to confirm with even greater clarity my impression that this island (virgin, fragile and “unsocialized”) and autism ultimately show the limits of the inconsistencies and maladjustments of the current social system (entirely and disproportionately artificial) to Nature.
And ask the same kind of questions : protect, preserve, “adapter”, oui, but how ?
In my humble opinion : respecting the deep natural essence of people and things, without imposing artificial modifications on them, almost always superficial, questionable, and dis-harmonious.

By discovering this whole story, certainly amazing (and maybe almost unbelievable) but not at all romantic, you also perform a sort “d’excursion” in the mental world of an autistic person, with his way “socially different” to see things, which does not, however, lack relevance and lucidity (apart from the inevitable small errors, since I have never set foot on the island, and I'm not a scientist).

In other words, here you are leaving for a sort of little “trip to Autistan”…

Thank you for your interest and patience, and good adventures in Autistan, towards the immensity and the unknown of “original world” !

Eric L.

Autism and Passion (1) : Improbabilities, intuitions and discoveries

In April 2013, I was on a Caribbean island, and while I'm not very fond of cinema, someone insisted on making me look the film "My name is Khan”, a film very little unknown in France.
This Indian film is about difficulties, but also qualities, of a man misunderstood and mistreated particularly because he is autistic “Asperger’s” (name I didn't know existed).
In this film, I live so much points in common with my particularities and tribulations personal, that I was inevitably intrigued, SO : Google “Asperger”…
And in a few minutes it's like someone turned on the light for the first time, or like giving glasses to a person who doesn't even know they have poor eyesight : I have Asperger’s !
It was the first time I saw a description that matched me !
I thought I was alone in the world, un être “très spécial”, like “a five-legged sheep”…

Everything finally lights up, when I wasn't expecting anything, because for me it was “normal” that I was “abnormal”, since “for me, It had always been like that” (and, anyway, It never occurred to me to want to “be normal”, a bit like a cat that wants to be a dog : absurd).
There had always been, on the one hand, "people", and, on the other hand, “moi”.
Also, the idea that I could be more or less “like the others” had never crossed my mind.
Besides, “the others” did not hesitate to constantly remind me to what extent I was not “like everyone else”, not like them, not normal", not “as it should”, that I had “a problem”, even that I was a problem, etc. Brief…

During many days, a flood of memories of misunderstandings and problems (obviously “social”) rush through my head, all with their instant explanation thanks to the “reading key” consisting of one word : “Asperger”.
When I didn't even expect it, I am beginning to be born into the social world, I have the key, a “label” to provide so that you are FINALLY no longer always wrongly cataloged and rejected elsewhere.
What is important to people, there is a label, even if they don't know how to read it. Like in the supermarket.
Otherwise, rebut, rejection, all the time. Or “change and come back when you are compliant”.
Naturally all this has been confirmed very officially, by Doctor Bruno Gepner, one of the rare specialists in France.

To be, you are probably saying to yourself : “It’s all quite interesting, but what does this have to do with Passion Island? / Clipperton Island ?…”
A bit of patience, SVP 🙂
I would like to summarize the context, so that people understand my “point of view” on this island, as faithfully as possible.

The 14 mars 2014, I meet Josef Schovanec (a famous autistic-philosopher-writer-polyglo(be)t(ro)the(r) French) for the first time, because I was his driver (among other people) for a conference.
During a meal, I hear him say, in a joking tone, the word “Autistan” (and also “TEDistan” (”PDD” = Pervasive Developmental Disorders)).

This idea of a sort of “autism country”, or autistic” with a name, was going to, like a little seed, sprout little by little in my mind…
What can we do with this ?
Déjà, the name should be protected. And then make at least one page on the Internet.
It's better than nothing, and it's cheap.

SO the 12 avril 2014, I buy autistan.com and autistan.org, and the 14 avril, autistan.fr, then others.
A bit like a sort of “taking possession” of a “domain claimed by no one” (what exactly is this in the world “Internet”), and who had been “signaled” by a precursor, Josef, who confirmed to me that he had no objection to what I was trying to do with the concept of Autistan, and that for him it was “just an invented word as one can make it 50 per hour".

In the following days, absorbed by this sort of “realization” of a rather imaginary idea, I make some simple web pages, by trying to explain what Autistan could be.
Which is not easy, especially since no one “owns” the “autistic world” and everyone is free to see it as they want.

And then, during the 3 or 4 days that followed (just during Easter) a rather strange phenomenon occurred…

When you are autistic, when we are focused on something, we are passionate, and we can't really be interested in anything else.
This can last several days, and there, I was completely “into Autistan”.
Yet, for no particular reason, I became interested in another subject at the same time, which a priori could not have any connection, at least consciously.

I will try to explain. Sorry if it's okay “search a little far”. But precisely, that's the case to say…

Autistic, I struggle to find interest or satisfaction in things that aren’t “unique”. Always, I always needed to personalize, to tinker, to adapt things to feel good with, that is to say with unique things, not copies.
I won't talk about my car here, because there is also “a whole world”, very original and unique, but simply the question of license plate.
(Don't worry, we will get there shortly, to the dear island !).

At the time of registration, finding it absurd tobe obliged to indicate a department number while having the choice to choose the one you want, I had, in a sort of somewhat provocative “autistic rebuff” (and fun), had the idea of choosing a completely “unlikely” department, the “most impossible possible”, SO the most extreme, the farthest, and I had not found more “insolently exotic” than the department 976 (Mayotte), was – to my knowledge at that time – the “last on the list”.

Or is, in April 2014, yet absorbed by “Autistan” and without thinking of embassies and even less of islands, here I am, strangely, to think back to my history of plaque, and so, inevitably, as a good autistic perfectionist, to ask myself if there is not something even more improbable and original in the department numbers.
(Those who know the island are beginning to understand…)

SO, what do I do ? Google, again, Of course.
SO, my autistic “all the way-ism” doesn’t have much trouble getting to the end of the list of all the postal codes in France, from Navarre… and French territories.
(I can't talk about Terre-Adelie here, who has attracted me since a very young age, because it's still a whole story, not sad either.)

And so, I discover… l’improbable, the unknown, the “confetti”, the tiny lost atoll, not to say lost, "in the middle of nowhere", and who nevertheless possesses… un code postal !
Administrative incongruity undoubtedly, but which does not displease me ! It’s even rather “crispy”… (We should remember to thank the civil servant or the facetious postman who had the idea of proposing a postal code for this island.…)

But first, what is this story ? Clipperton ? Passion Island ?
Never heard of it !
Various French territories, like Tromelin, oui… more “Clipperton” ???
Perdue ? Unknown ? All alone ? Fragile ? Etc…
Toddler, unnoticed, not remarkable…
All this can only intrigue and interest me.
You don't have to be autistic for this, but I quickly start to feel a lot of “common points”, with this island, which almost instantly create a sort of “sympathy”, almost “solidarity” (in between “lost”, “ignored”, “forgotten”, “negligible quantities”, etc…)
And even… Like a sort of “déjà vu” feeling, and you will know why at the end of the second part.

The idea of searching for a “new department” for my car, which moreover was really not necessary at all, completely evaporates (and it is only by writing these lines that I realize it), and I'm starting to really get interested in this island, by starting to consult a little everything that can be found about her on the Internet.

And very quickly, a kind of inspiration comes to me.
The idea of an “Autistan embassy”. eh yes, countries have embassies…
But it was by discovering this island that this idea came to me.
SO, a relationship between this island, and the concept of embassy.

Comment ? Not easy… The island is apparently uninhabitable, away from it all, and anyway you need authorization, etc.
But finally, it is also because of its particularity as a desert island, distant and unusual, that precisely this idea of an Autistan embassy on this island is relevant.

I assure you, I never had the idea of a real embassy (unless maybe some sort of shelter or something original, but very modest – or maybe some sort of electronic thing connected by waves etc.).

But I began to see this island, herself, like a sort of Autistan embassy on Earth, or more precisely in France.
Ideas for embassies in other countries came later.
(Besides, Since 4 ans, the concept has advanced, et – despite many difficulties – it is in the Autistan Embassy in Rio de Janeiro that I am writing this article. How you can be a “dreamer”, or “in Autistan” at times, while also being capable of realism and concreteness.)

SO, I start writing a web page to explain what is happening, and to present this idea of an Autistan embassy on Passion Island, even knowing that I have no means and no rights, nor even any hope of anything, at this moment.
We can always dream. And then, when you are autistic, we need at least a “mental refuge”, a point on which attention can be focused, and which is sufficiently serene and “natural” for our mind to feel at ease there, and can settle down and rest there.
A bit like the birds called “crazy” characteristic of the island.
Except that autistic people are not more “crazy” that the birds in question. Anyway.

Using WebArchive to find the oldest trace of this page (of which copy below), I notice that I had associated it with Autistan.fr, and titled “Embassy of Autistan in France” (somehow, to be in France, but in the most inaccessible way possible, almost as a challenge).
Today, Autistan.fr corresponds to mainland France, and it all came together (with over 150 countries and territories).

Update to 2023 : Today, Clipperton took its place corresponding to the original idea, since “Autistan.fr” is the site of “l’Autistan Embassy in Clipperton and Other French Territories“.

Don't ruin your eyesight trying to decipher the text in this image : All (except the beginning) will be taken up and explained in the second part of this article.

THE “Clippertonien(it is)s” will perhaps have noticed that at that time I believed that 98901 was the new postal code of the island, when it is in fact the Insee code.
But above all they / they will have noticed that I had even gone so far as to create (without asking anyone !) and “Clipperton flag”, taking inspiration from that of the TAAF. By consistency, always, and perhaps also with a vague hope that it might be accepted in the future, do we ever know…
This shows the intensity of the “passion” that I fed for this island, which I had never heard of two weeks ago !

Moreover, the rare connoisseurs of Autistan can notice the first flag test (a white star on a blue background), which was ultimately deemed too aggressive, and that I replaced (grace, encore, Has “inspirations”) in summer 2016 by the current flag, which appeals to almost everyone among the autistic people consulted (and to everyone outside autism).

Shelter, for us (as with most animals elsewhere), it can’t be something “social”.
When you are autistic (and even when we are not), it’s so painful to live in a sort of “dictatorship” of “all social” and “all communication”, where man must necessarily be omnipresent, and “virulent”…
It's true, Frankly : why couldn’t there be a category of “natural” humans?, resistant to aberrations ?
And why couldn't some people be more sensitive than others? : it's forbidden, this too ? Because “not normal” ?…
In addition, when we see all the perversion and excesses permitted by the mastery of “communication” and “socialization”, not to mention the low “normal” sensitivity, we say to ourselves that it is rather “the majority system of thought” which should be questioned (and that is the crux of the problem, Anyway.)

SO, the fact of “coming face to face” like that, by chance, on a seemingly completely virgin place, and when we understand that it is a place where no human can burst in by surprise (by forcing us to be like this and like that), what a relief !

Certainly, there are plenty of other pretty pristine places in the world (deserts, mountains...). But when you think about it, we say to ourselves that a priori anyone can go there.
Or, ici, it's completely forbidden. And more, it's really far from everything, and no one cares (at least that’s what appeared to me at the time of my “discovery”).
And it's full of crabs, etc. Completely inhospitable to humans.
Brief : heaven, when you want to finally be peaceful, without always having to be “adapted” etc..
Without this sort of perpetual fear that someone will appear at any moment to criticize that what we are doing is “not normal”…
And even if we can't go there physically, it’s already soothing enough to inhabit this island a little in thought, and even, why not, to dream of projects…

My autistic life is, in part, a kind of endless quest, to connect with “others”, with people who understand and accept, or even who accept without understanding.
And it's almost always impossible, because they are in their “social boxes”, their predefined circuits : if we don't match, we are automatically rejected.

SO, this island, even if it does not allow a human relationship, at least she doesn't need to understand me to accept me. No “social huts” here.
The crabs of the island, even by millions, are less dangerous than some “human crab baskets”.
And the masked madmen seem very harmless compared to the madness of the current “human system”.

Quickly after the discovery, I still wanted to have a sort of “contact” with this island, which is a little more consistent than the simple fact of looking at photos or losing myself in more or less fanciful dreams.

So I contacted various people who participated in the expeditions, without really having a clear idea of what I could tell them, and this is how I had the chance to come into contact with for example Jean-Claude Bessudo, a Franco-Colombian president of a tourist company, very nice, and especially Christian Jost, a university professor geographer (more, from my point of view, more of a professor a bit like “Indiana Jones” who spends a lot of time in the field and who is not afraid of adventure).

These are there, once again, highly improbable “encounters”, because I'm not at all in the scientific world, and even less in business, or in the “world of the military” (despite being related to a cousin, a retired General in Reunion – a hell of a number, him too… Brief.).

Once again, this “pinhead”, crystallizing so many things, allowed human connections certainly impossible otherwise (because usually no one answers me, or don't understand what I'm saying…).
So thank you to Passion Island for that !
And then also, in relation to the postal code which allowed my “discovery” : “Thank you La Poste” !

With Christian Jost, we write to each other from time to time.
Of course, he and I are overwhelmed (when so many people are bored and “don’t know what to do” – Short…).

Recently, he suggested that I write an article to present what I explained in my April web page 2014, because he really liked my “different” look, and the connections I made spontaneously between lots of things, discovering the island, from afar.

As has already been said, this very long article will be used to make that of the CPOM magazine, especially from the second part, that is here.

Autism and Passion (2) : Natural and existential coincidences

I reproduce below, in blue with very few corrections, the text of my April presentation web page 2014 from “the special embassy of Autistan in France” (in other words, from Clipperton Island / Passion Island) according to my thoughts at the time, by adding “notes from March 2018).

—————————————-

Autistan
Intangible country of autistic people

Autistan can be seen as a “pays mental” or a “spiritual location” familiar to autistic people (pretty close to what anyone can experience during a “daydream” (In fact, outside of terrestrial space and time)).
Incidentally, a Non-Autistic Person, in contact with the speech or the singular and somewhat destabilizing realizations of an autistic person, may have had the illusion, by leaving one's automatisms of thought and one's habits and certainties, having “took a trip to Autistan”.

Autistan is located outside of space and time, and blends with the “unlocalized consciousness”.
Therefore, it is difficult to establish a tangible link between Autistan and physical human society.
Difficile, but not impossible : Indeed, if Autistan is at the edge of society, we can then effectively seek to go “as far away from society as possible” and define a sort of bridge there, of “porte”, at this precise point.
This point of contact, delicate, must respect our autistic fragility and our need for maximum distance from this society which currently hurts us.

NB : this is current human society (inconsistent, lost, moche) which poses a problem to us, NOT “the world” (natural and therefore necessarily coherent, harmonious and authentic).

For a “representation” (connection with society), it is therefore necessary to find a material place which corresponds as closely as possible to all of this, and which is therefore physically removed as much as possible from society while remaining truly concrete and on the planet.

For France, Passion Island (Clipperton Island) seems the most appropriate place, for many reasons :

1 – No residents (for the moment) ;

March Note 2018 : Writing this during my “discovery”, I didn’t yet know about the human settlement projects, who seem to have made good progress since.
Paradoxically, while it seems clear that a small human population is needed to protect this island, in this case it would lose its fascinating character of a desert island…
That is why, not only out of respect and humility before Nature, but also to respect the “symbolic and mentally restful” aspects, in my opinion it is absolutely necessary to prioritize the absence of visible signs of human presence and modification.
Even if it was “very discreetly inhabited”, it would keep as much as possible its appearance and its essence of a virgin desert island, natural, original.

2 – One of the furthest points from any civilization on French territory, most isolated atoll in the world : that is to say “sheltered from society” ;

March Note 2018 : Which is obviously a very relieving idea., for autistic people, and undoubtedly also for all the people that this island attracts.

3 – Last postal code position (98799) / code Insee (98901) ;

March Note 2018 : When you are autistic (and especially “Asperger’s” (quite “subtle” shape)), either our case does not appear anywhere, in no “box”, either, in the minds of others, we correspond to a vague concept more or less “approximate” to something like autism, but all the same still at the extreme limit of the conceptions of “Non-Autistic People”.

4 – Single status, not really identifiable or very clear, and often very paradoxical :

You DOM, nor TOM, territory administered by French Polynesia but under the jurisdiction of the Prefecture of Paris ;
Public domain but access subject to authorization ;
Has a real postal code (98799) without being able to be served by post ;
Rather French or rather Mexican depending on your point of view, etc. etc…
Even the name is not clear : there are two (while France would have every interest in opting for “Passion Island” instead of that of an English privateer (Clipperton) : once again, bad choice…) ;

Bulk, the authorities don't really know what to do with it, it’s a kind of “hot potato”, something beyond them, exactly like with us…

March Note 2018 : Even in 2018, people are still arguing about whether autism is a disease, a trouble", disabilities, etc. (while I settle this question on my pages (for example on Autistan.org, section “Explanations”), but no one pays attention, Short…
In 2014, the difference between “Asperger’s syndrome” (i.e. without language delay) and “high functioning autism” was clear. But now, since March 2018, the WHO has decided to consider that it is “the same thing” (what is wrong), which shows people don't understand much about it, which is logical since they do not deign to listen to the explanations of autistic people, assuming that they are “sick”.
Highly natural and authentic things, et “self-protected” (particularly by their isolation), like autism or like Clipperton, show the limits of “artificial human systems”, their contradictions and their inadequacy to natural reality…
This is also why this island can seem friendly to autistic people., because she is indomitable, non-domesticable, it challenges artificial and presumptuous social authority, who is visibly breaking his teeth over it : once again, it changes, it relieves.
If one day a development and/or human habitation project is implemented, let me beg that this island does not become an “administrative island”, denatured, forced to support disharmonious constructions, an island subject to “colonialism and the exploitation of everything by man” (from rhino horn to the tiniest “confetti” lost and discreet, Passing by “autism disease”), in short, a defeated island : it would be a death to his nature, of its particularity, of its essence, of are “soul”.
I think there has already been enough evil happening on the planet., so why want to attack even “the last crumbs” ?

5 – Totally natural place and (quasi) virgin, corresponding to the world “pur” (naturel) autistic people ;

March Note 2018 : There is an opposition between “the original natural world”, and the “artificial social world”, of which autistic people are “naturally self-protected” but which makes them suffer through its inconsistencies, disharmonies, “impurities” etc..
Autistic people, whose sensitivity and link with natural truth are not diminished by “distorting” formatting and social constructions, are like “society fuses”, like warning lights, that the “following” and “copycat” majority, to “automatic” functioning and the pursuit of materialist and “comfortabilist” illusions, tries to “turn off” because she finds them disturbing and inappropriate (what is true, but we are unadapted to a system which is itself adapted to Nature, the truth, to a sustainable and meaningful life for Humanity and other forms of life on Earth, already strongly destroyed by a system that allows itself to judge us).
This is the kind of thing I try to explain in my presentations, meetings, etc., far from French institutions and authorities too superior to take the trouble to pay their attention…
Passion Island, that feels like it could be submerged or disappear at almost any moment, also brings to mind this notion of a “fuse” which can liquefy, or warning light, forcing one to ask “existential” questions : this is what seems to be starting to happen all over the world regarding the protection of Nature ; regarding the protection of autistic people (who are among the most natural of humans, with Down syndrome, the “natives”…), it is much more difficult because it forces society to completely question its system of thought, ses conventions, his beliefs.
Indeed, understanding and accepting autism as “valid” and part of natural diversity would endanger all sorts of things that are “socially significant as true”, Short, a total collapse of the “house of cards”, a “September 11 to the power of 1000” (itself the scam of the century (the third tower that falls “all alone”, etc. etc.), but in short, another obvious but conventionally unacceptable truth…).

6 – The form and effect of “porte”, both horizontally and vertically (cf. passage between two worlds or two “dimensions”) ;

March Note 2018 : The shape of the island (which I see more as rectangular than as ovoid, or like an ovoid trapezoid), reminds me of a “door”, a bit like in the movie “Stargate, the stargate” (but without going any further in the comparison with this fiction, let's stay on earth, or rather at sea, finally both) : this island, which comes to “join the sky” in this unique place is indeed a “point of contact” between the Earth and the air, but also between water and emerged land, and this doubly, since it is the only coral atoll with a closed lagoon, so the crown is a bit of a sort of “closed door” between “the restless and immense life, but dangerous, and “undrinkable”, of the ocean on the one hand, and the calm and “drinking” life of the fresh water of the lagoon, paradoxically in a “pre-mortem” state.
To open this door or not, that is the question…
If I continue to make comparisons to autism, I would say that if we consider it necessary to open it, so you have to do it very carefully, just a little bit, to revive life inside, but respecting its subtle, even mysterious and “unfathomable” nature (cf. “Bottomless hole”).
In other words, it should be done delicately, and certainly not through “major works” (opening of deep passes) to go “impose the majority norm internally” (like when we try to impose “non-autism” on autistic people), which would allow boats to enter, and why not sharks, and “undrinkable” salt water.
Wanting to change the structure of the island too deeply, just to bring in boats to transport enough to level the airstrip or build a building, this would amount to making exactly the same mistakes that man makes everywhere, by imposing his will on Nature, by first thinking about what suits him, without thinking further.
Given the extreme fragility of this atoll, It seems to me that we really have to “walk on eggshells” (or crabs, finally in short…).
There isn't much left that hasn't been thoughtlessly “screwed up” by human whims.. This jewel belongs to France.
For once, while they are lucky enough to still have time, our elites could make the effort of special reflection that this highly symbolic island deserves, For example (but not only) by consulting civil society as a whole, in addition to scientific considerations, strategic and economic, certainly major but perhaps not sufficient to have the overall vision required by this island whose fragility and “extremism” almost seem like some kind of insolent challenge to society (a bit like in my case, when I stand up to the system, almost alone and without means, to survive and defend the cause of shipwrecked or exploited autistic people).
After all, what are men facing this island ? Not even ants. Besides, they barely survive.
This island knows a lot of the history of the planet, down to its inaccessible bowels, this island knows volcanism and the ocean better than anyone…
What are men to come and decide his fate?, under the pretext that she is very small, and because she “would belong” to a nation, under the pretext that someone had read a declaration of possession from a boat, “without getting wet” any further.
So that France is worthy in claiming this atoll, I wish someone would risk their life for “conquer”. And first, it is not the Earth that belongs to Man, but the opposite.
I really think that with this island, which is almost like a “sacred relic” from the time when Nature (to which we owe everything) was still respected, we should really be very very humble…
France ?… But France didn't even exist, There is only 2000 ans…
I love France (but not its administrative system, very handicapped compared to natural reality) ; France is a big country, it’s the land of big ideas, great principles, elegance, and she wants it to be known : well let her offer proof to the world, with this island, by innovating in the respectful protection of Nature.
Instead of settling for secret agreements allowing people to be plundered at will “halieutics resources” (i.e. kill millions of fish), just so as not to upset another state (and above all so as not to worry too much about a negligible stone, while there are so many more important things in Parisian salons…).

(Sorry but sometimes you have to be able to say what you think… Ma “vision” is perhaps imperfect on certain details, and awkwardly exposed, but on the essential I hope that it helps to reinforce certain thoughts of the reader / of the reader.)

7 – Volcanic crater connecting the heart of “mother earth” with its surface, and at the same time point of contact between water and air… (the physical and the spiritual),
with the addition of two different liquid natural environments, the calm environment being infinitely smaller than the agitated and powerful environment,
and protected by a tiny earth cord, very fragile…
Explanations : If we compare autistic people to the lagoon (calm, murky and mysterious (cf. the “Bottomless hole” (crater))), then the thin strip of land (sometimes submerged by large waves) represents the tiny protection we have from the surrounding marine waves (the society, and even, just its distant edges), dangerous and populated by sharks ; there is a passage (a “passe”), more or less mouthful, at the foot of the rock, which -in a certain way- watches over the island and over this “passage between the two worlds” (which further reinforces the idea that if a “representation” of Autistan could exist one day on the island, the most consistent, symbolically, would be that it was located in this place (the minimum being a simple flag at the top of the rock – not representing domination or conquest, but rather a hope and even a call : I want to talk of course about the flag of Autistan).
In addition the remoteness of the atoll, his ignorance, and the incommensurability between the ocean and this one, fully represent our situation.
We can still go further, noticing that the lagoon is dying (lack of communication with the outside world) and that scientists do not know whether to prefer to study it like this (plus original), or on the contrary bring it back to life by re-opening the pass.
And “autistic lagoon”, in short !
(Et… Non, It’s not “the sea’s fault” ! 🙂 );

March Note 2018 : In autism, psychoanalysts have often spoken – wrongly – of “the mother’s fault” (cf. Bettelheim’s “mother refrigerator” theory, happily abandoned).
My “March 2018 notes” under the previous point are a bit redundant with the explanations above, but I hope that they are still sufficiently complementary.
Concerning the rock and its “symbolic function”, it's not just me who says it, since, in addition, the nature of this rock (and its height) allow, for a long time, to protect the island from the risk of no longer being considered a “real land”, which would cause France to lose its EEZ.
In addition, this rock is a junction point, not only between the “bowels of the earth” (which is much “deeper” than non-volcanic land surfaces) and the sky, a point of intersection between sea and land, but it is also the point of contact with the coral crown (which is not truly “land”), just like the intersection, via the pass at his foot, between the ocean and the lagoon.
This shows the extent to which this rock is of the utmost importance., in many ways.
(While writing this paragraph, the idea of “navel of the world” (or Earth”) came to me, because of “communication” with “the bowels”, but also because of the shape of the atoll.
Brief, this “lost and insignificant desert stone” seems to inspire many things in many people. Maybe, precisely, because of its fragility. All this invites reflection.)

8 – Altitude dangerously close to zero (like us, this island barely survives !) ;
(et, for the island, the possible risk of disappearance would be caused – like for us – by the madness of Non-Autistic People (cf. global warming)) ;

March Note 2018 : Speaking of “disappearance” for autistic people, I was referring to genetic research and testing, because a lot of people believe it is good to “eradicate” autism.
With a few colleagues, we try to defend the “right to be born” for autistic people (and other natural minorities judged “deleteable”), at the highest levels, where obviously we are listened to politely, but nothing more.
For the moment, Fortunately, researchers struggle to find for autism, but we never know, with the “progress of science”, when it is misused…
This is not “paranoia” : they have already started with Down syndrome, dont 80% are killed before birth, in many countries “advances” (and respectful of “human rights, bla bla bla”).
Sometimes I try to explain that if one day autistic people and “original” people disappeared from the face of the planet, then it would be “the beginning of the end” for Humanity, which would end up being lost in “successive copies” and denaturations, into “human machines” (but it would take too long to talk about it here).
Without going so far as to speak of disappearance, we can notice that this island is polluted by the rejections of human consumerism and “illusionism”, in the same way as the neurological system of autistic people (sensory and mental) is “polluted” by attacks, disharmonies, injustices etc., which are almost always caused by “human constructions”.
(Precision : The works of Man are not always unsuitable for Nature, but it is rare, and it's especially when there is no choice : example, airplanes (here I am talking about the adaptation which must be very finely respectful of the laws of Nature so as not to crash miserably, and not from the pollution generated) ; in matters of aviation, no room for vague theories, under penalty of ending… in smoke).

9 – Lost in the vastness of the ocean, this island represents (by its shape, in position…) a kind of “life buoy”, that we can mentally cling to ;

March Note 2018 : This is also the case for birds (whose flight is free like the thoughts of autistic people), who only have this place to rest in the middle of the immensity.
For an autistic, imagining a place where we are sure that no one will come to disturb our thoughts, our ideas, nos passions, criticize us, make fun of us, force us to be “sociable” or “communicate” (what this island shows the futility of), it's very relieving, even if we know we will never go there.
It's already better than nothing. As a sort of “benchmark” showing that everything is not completely absurd, that we are not crazy.
Actually, this island helps enormously to show the “risibility” of the “majority” human system, and that’s also why it appeals to autistic people (I know others), just like other nature lovers, authenticity, of the truth, common sense.

10 – Mysterious island, ignored (like us…), appearing “unwelcoming” but at the same time fascinating and coveted by some… (like us) ;

March Note 2018 : In France, autistic people are “exploited” – to the detriment of their freedom and citizenship – by medical-financial lobbies, and it pays a little more than the exploitation of guano : 7 billion euros annually, that *you* pay to the “social security”…
(Impossible to get away with these “crabs with golden claws” who discreetly defend their “grisbi”… The only one who could possibly change that, with the help of the UN and the Court of Auditors (and perhaps the Council of State), he's the new president… To have… We have no choice but to fight and hope, without much conviction…)

11 – Almost impossible to arrange, domesticate, “socialize”, not by his will but by his nature, that we cannot change (and that we must respect) : this island is like us ;

12 – Neglected, this island almost bores the authorities (because you have to take care of it and it’s not easy) but at the same time she is “strategically” important for France ;

March Note 2018 : Like autism since the election of the new French President… but OK, we are still waiting…
The Administration is stuck between its “pusillanimity” (thanks Mr. Deputy Philippe Folliot for having managed to say that politely in your rapport regarding Clipperton) and political-economic considerations, in autism exactly as for Clipperton (and other topics), and without much connection with realism or the real interests of people (or islands) concerned…

13 – Clipperton is sometimes called “the island of the forgotten” (cf. the lamentable disaster of the Mexican attempt at social life on the island), and this term “forgotten” corresponds perfectly to us, especially in France and especially – oh how much – for autistic adults.

March Note 2018 : In December 2014 I was able to give a little “speech” at UNESCO in Paris, which I concluded with “We no longer wish to be the eternally forgotten”. Much appreciated speech, but obviously without concrete consequences, like always. Talking is not enough ; I try to act, and I do a lot despite the lack of means.
(Total absence since March 2018 since France no longer pays me my Disabled Adult Allowance, to which I am entitled until 2022 at least, on the grounds of stupid considerations linked to the location of my body, not to mention the inability to recognize and encourage my efforts, rather embarrassing for those who “current French management of autism” arrange (or don't bother), that is to say all except autistic people and families.)

14 – She is harmonious and beautiful ! (and not disfigured / transvestite / “socialized”…)

March Note 2018 : Autistic people are not necessarily more beautiful than others, but as for those (or those) who are, sometimes the “inner beauty” or “purity” emerging from certain autistic people (especially some children) can “deeply challenge”, much more than “superficial plastic beauties”.
One thing is sure, it is that authentic autistic people are not distorted.
This is one of the qualities of autism, not to say one of the useful interests…

And regarding the question of harmony and coherence, I came to the conclusion that the notion of “consistency” is one of the most important “essential principles” of autism (contrary to what people believe). This explains the great sensitivity to anomalies and injustices (I will not detail here).
I even explained this as a member of the scientific committee responsible for designing the “institutional autism website” for the government, what, very predictably, did not provoke any reaction in this committee of “temple guardians” (bad faith ignorance).
I still managed to get them to stop talking about “disease”, in email threads and on their site). Same for the HAS, where I was “expert” (Adult Autism Recommendation) before resigning in view of the “HAScarades” and bad will and bad faith. Brief.)

15 – The concept - more or less utopian- of a “ideal nation” admirably joins a sort of “desert island fantasy” (where we could reinvent society by making a clean slate), and corresponds to the perfectionist and purist spirit of autistic people.

– Alone, and almost homeless in the face of the power of Nature, the usual social codes (that we would like to be held for “normal”, natural, indispensable) clearly show all their relativity and incongruity, which reassures us in our distrust of them.
(In writing this remark, I am no longer in the symbolic comparisons between society and the ocean, but in concrete considerations linked to the idea of social life on the atoll.)

– It is a place evoking dreams and respite… Because frankly, the current social system is really ruining our existence too much…
So please, that we be given at least some symbolic space, where no one goes, where no one is disturbed…
That we can think about it knowing that we are accepted there, at least in theory.

After reading these 15 points, I think it is difficult not to see the connections between this island and autism.
(And there are undoubtedly others, since everything is consistent.)
Certainly, we can always make comparisons and see similarities or coincidences between many things, each in their own way. There are many other ways to symbolize autism.
And yet, it seems to me that the comparisons here are quite striking.
No doubt because the place is very natural (or non-socially-adjusted) which are.

– What's more, the tiny size of this almost inaccessible world, its landing strip for small planes, the rocks, the desert and almost lunar landscape, all this brings us irresistibly closer to the world of the aviator Antoine de Saint-Exupéry (the desert, asteroid B-612) In “The little Prince”, in which we find ourselves particularly…
And through which the “Non-Autistic People” can get a little idea of the mental world in which we live, and in which we can meet somewhere, when you reclaim your “inner child” while reading the book.

– Moreover : non, leave this state (”d’innocence”) is not an obligation or a necessity : it is rather the opposite which is dangerous and fatal : to fall, toddler, in the easy automatic trap of conformity to a self-destructive and absurd social system (and that no one has mastered for a long time : that's the worst).
Some think that, anyway, any social organization is necessarily absurd and Kafkaesque : this itself is an example of “absurd automatic reasoning”, of belief, coarse amalgam, irrational, thoughtless, and which constitutes one of the sources of the problem…
Indeed, I don't think social organization itself is a problem.
Problems come from the introduction of defects (various selfish appetites and fantasies) which are amplified by the organization (with the distortions of delegations of power etc.), all this mainly because of errors, imprecision, amalgams, contempt for the truth, etc., defects from which autistic people are naturally protected.

“Once upon a time there was a little prince who lived on a planet barely bigger than him., and who needed a friend…”
Deep inside themselves, most people “feel” that autistic people (or other people “disabled by this system”) “are right”, in the right, and they envy their “originality”, which fascinates them while disturbing them, because they suspect that they sacrificed all that to “follow the pack”, for comfort, Security, l’illusion, and a system that their instinct still allows them to feel as completely “Upside down”, which can only lead to social psychoses, irrational fear, rejection of different, and retreat even more “compulsive” in what I call the comfortabilist illusion. Vicious and fatally destructive circle for Humanity.
But Clipperton doesn't care… 🙂

– Last remark : autistic people often lack a sense of direction (especially in artificial environments), SO, given the shape of the island, in case of (very very hypothetical) stays, they would not risk getting lost… 😉

Easter 1711 :
“Passion Island” is the authentic French baptismal name of the island which should henceforth be called this.
The island was discovered on Good Friday [Easter…] 3 avril 1711 speak French, Le Havre, Michel Dubocage, aboard the Discovery, who sailed with Martin de Chassiron aboard the Princesse, on the way to China. Dubocage drew up the first map. In memory of this holy day, Michel Dubocage baptized it : Passion Island.
[according to Clipperton.fr]

Easter 1722 :
Discovery of Easter Island

Easter 2014 :
303 years after Passion Island, Friday (Easter) 18 avril 2014, this island is “discovery” by an autistic Asperger “pioneer”…
March Note 2018 : Here I was talking about myself, but I avoid “putting myself forward” as much as possible, in order to avoid stupidly falling into classic “social traps”, such as for example accusations of seeking “personal glory”…
himself from a surprisingly close family (via another volcanic French island) by Victor Le Coat de Kerveguen (who took official possession of the island, for France, in november 1858).
March Note 2018 : I checked again : Victor was the first cousin (remained in mainland France) by the famous Gabriel de Kervéguen, very important character on the island at the time (to the point of using your own currency, le kerveguen…). The “great families” and landowners of this time married among themselves, and I found various unions of our two families (including in Brittany).
Without going into too personal details which would take us too far from Clipperton, I find all these coincidences quite disturbing (that of “Kervéguen” being the least).
ET… He discovers it completely by chance, before even thinking about a “embassy”, about a day or two after I started trying to represent Autistan on the Internet. All of this lasted approximately 2 or 3 days (at Easter).
March Note 2018 : I didn't remember it anymore, but reading this page of 2014 I realized that it was the discovery of the island that made me think of the concept of embassies (because I saw the island as a sort of natural embassy, obvious – even if, contrary to popular belief, an embassy is a human delegation and not a place).

And you don't know everything ! The rest is just as disturbing (geologically this time), but too private.

March Note 2018 : hey good, now that I have divorced from His Lordship (bleeding…) Madam France, I can reveal what it is !
At that time, I spent every summer in a very natural place in France, to which I was very attached (before the administrative torment ends up making me vomit this country whole, apart from a few innocent and exempt islets.)
Et, from my window, I could see a small lake.
A lake… of volcanic origin…
Actually, this lake is a “maar”, who had disappeared following a collapse, and which was rebuilt by man.
One of the rare cases of human intervention on Nature that does not end in disaster, but it is quite simply because ultimately it is not a modification, but a respectful restoration.
What does this have to do with “our island”? ?? There is of course the question of “improvement respectful of nature”, but also the shape of the lake, almost identical to that of the lagoon !
I'm sure some people think I see coincidences everywhere.…
So judge for yourself :

Satellite views of the lake and lagoon : the scales are different (the lake is much smaller), and I rotated the image of the lake to better see the similarity, but I haven't retouched or distorted anything.

(For the moment, I prefer not to say the name of the lake, because I still have ties there, but everything I write can be verified if necessary.)

I rubbed my eyes when I saw this. ; I told myself that maybe I was the toy of my imagination, that this island was starting to obsess me, etc., that it was undoubtedly a “classic” form in volcanism…
So I searched a little, A lot, even, lacs, lagoons, atolls, and I haven't found any that are as similar, even from afar.
I can't analyze everything, there are probably some, but I didn't see them, and in any case not under my windows…

Regarding the “connections” I make between the island and autism, This all seems quite obvious and coherent to me..
On the other hand, regarding “personal coincidences”, certainly less important, maybe there is nothing so mysterious or improbable (as for example with the families of “notables” of Brittany and Reunion).
But with this lake story (whom I love but to whom I am also not intimately linked), it's starting to do a lot.
I never tried to imagine things “mystics” or others behind all that.
But I would really be particularly “stunned” if I remained blind in the face of such a profusion of “signs” and of “coincidences” remarkable and in harmony.

The page of 2014 ended like this (with big letters) :

SVP, protect autistic people, protect Passion Island…
respect the natural, the authentic and the fragile,
try to make those around you suffer less…
if you can !
Merci.

– Website of the Special Embassy of Autistan in France, 18 avril 2014 –

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Back to March 2018

You now know this whole story of my “mental adventures” between Autistan and Passion Island…
All this is a kind of “vision” overall of various elements and very improbable and subtle relationships.
Maybe some(e)s readers / readers might wonder if I have not “romance” things, or if I live in some sort of “imaginary world” disconnected from reality.
Moi, I do not have that impression of it, on the contrary. And I find that the anecdotes that I relate here are ultimately very simple, very raw, very concrete, and quite easy to check.
The links and interpretations that I make are obviously personal reasonings, but nothing proves that the whole is not realistic.
However, there may be some lack of realism regarding certain details or certain ideas., because I have never been to the island, because I'm not a scientist, that I didn’t go to Sciences-Po, etc.
But I hope an autistic perspective (which is not that of “all autistic people”) will have interested you(e), and could be useful.

A 3rd article is planned (”Autistan and Passion (3)”), who will rather talk about the future.

Eric LUCAS