Higher beings with questionable ethics

Before she met aliens, in 2012 Angelia Schultz/Anjali wrote and published a YA fantasy novel The Nameless, planned as the first of a series (she didn't publish any more). Now Anjali says higher beings influenced her writing in the book:

​What message these higher beings trying to convey with the following sexual assault scene and aftermath, from chapters 25-26? Because it reads like it's about how to accept abuse because your abuser loves you lots.

NOTE: Anjali has never given instructions on how to learn conscious communication with other humans, which was the beings' most urgent message until she just stopped talking about it. The only two relevant data points are:

1. In 2017 Anjali experienced her first conscious communication when an alien appeared in her room... while she was watching Netflix.

2. Anjali's 2012 novel, supposedly influenced by the beings, features two characters who spontaneously develop telepathy with each other as a result of one sexually assaulting the other and crying until the victim feels so bad he forgives her.

So, these two methods are the only clues we have about how to learn conscious communication with others.

The Australian Copyright Act 1968 provides fair dealing exceptions for the purposes of research, criticism, and review. Extracts belong to the copyright holder.

Trigger warning: Anjali posted a link to the book so you can read the full assault scene. If you can stomach it.  The relationship in this scene portrays Satya as a sexually abusive narcissist.

Message from the beings: narcissistic abuse leads to telepathy?

Let's go through it. I've edited the excerpts down to about 2600 words, and described what happens in the parts I didn't include. Non-consensual parts and other highlights are underlined.

Satya, the main character, discovers that by touching hot-guy love-interest Hay’s sword (his actual sword), she can control his will. He immediately tells her to stop. Instead, she plans to take advantage - but no worries, she’ll be careful. She compels him to drop to his knees:

I reached behind me with both hands and grasped the blade, watching for Hay’s reaction. Instantly, he drew a sudden breath and steadied himself on the wall, staring at me bewilderedly.
 
“Satya Aramais,” he asked, breathless with eyes wide. “What are you doing?”
 
...Gripping the sword, I ran my fingers along the blade and watched him shudder as I said innocently, “I’m not doing anything… Why do you ask?”
 
He clenched his jaw and said, “You should stop this right now.”
 
I slowly shook my head back and forth. I felt strangely empowered, like I could do anything I wanted in that moment. I asked, “Can you make me stop?” and squeezed the sword.
 
He drew a deep breath and struggled to speak, like he wasn’t sure what to say or if he even could. He held me with his eyes, full of twisting emotions.

“It’s okay, I’ll be careful with you,” I reassured him, and he opened his mouth to say something, but nothing came out. I remembered when I’d held his sword and called him by his name, how he’d seemed… submissive… and obedient. I wondered if it had just been the heat of the moment or if it was something more.
 
I said quietly, gently, “Haimanutha Achalaa…,” testing my theory.
 
Hay stepped forward and fell to his knees before me. His eyes swirled with confusion as he looked at me. Straining to speak, he said, “Yes, Satya Aramais…”

She wants to devour him, while he acts confused. She confirms it doesn't hurt him and that he's defenseless.
 
He tells her to stop. She revels in the power and continues since it’s painless and harmless. He’s helpless and she ignores his desperation:
 
“But please tell me – why are you doing this? Let me go.”
 
I saw something in his eyes that called out to me, and I wondered if I should stop. But I felt incredible and it was exhilarating. I craved to know how far I could take it, what I could make him do. I thought of harmless things, wonderful things, things that wouldn’t hurt anyone.
 
Breathing heavily he whispered a plea, “Speak to me and tell me why you do this.”
 
I heard him, heard the desperation in his voice, but it seemed so far away and disconnected that it didn’t quite make it through to me. And I didn’t feel quite like myself. I felt empowered and infinite and slightly out of control. Dangerous, even.

Satya blames her “fun” behavior on his hotness and on alcohol, fantasizes about how she's going to abuse him, and concludes he secretly wants it even though he's clearly not consenting:

I shook my head at him – I wasn’t going to explain anything. I felt it was obvious why I was doing it, and he knew why as well. It was exciting and fun, and I could tell there was a part of him that was as exhilarated as I was...
 
...I breathed deeply and tried to clear my head, wondering if the wine was making me act this way. I was thinking to myself that I just wanted to have a little fun and that it would be harmless. And that I could even get him to undress in front of me, piece by piece, and then I would do the same for him. What harm could there be in that? It’s what we both wanted in the end, wasn’t it? I knew it was the direction this night was taking.

​She makes him strip and thinks it's fun. He tells her to stop (7 times verbally, along with many references to his reluctant anguished body language) but she says he likes it and continues over his objections. Everything’s fine because she loves him heaps:
 
I hesitated, knowing I wasn’t entirely in control of myself. I bit my lip and said, “Haimanutha Achalaa, please take off your shirt.”
 
His eyes widened in surprise and he looked reluctant even as he lifted the bottom edge of his shirt and pulled it up over his arms and head. Dropping it to the floor beside him, he breathed, “This is far enough… Your point has been made….”
 
“I’m not making a point,” I told him, smiling, “I’m just having a little fun. And admit it, so are you. So take off your belt as well, Haimanutha.”
 
He said nothing but watched me anxiously as he unbuckled...

She taunts him with the threat of rape, tells him he’ll love it. He pleads with her to stop. His helplessness thrills her:

...he was a gentleman, and I knew without a doubt that I would love him until my last dying breath.
 
I thought I could feel something growing in him, something he was trying to control and I could tell he wasn’t sure how much longer he could. It was longing for me all twisted up in aggression and adoration. He was conflicted and trying to hide it. But I saw it. I saw him clearly and wondered how long he’d been struggling with it.
 
...Feeling bold and daring, I teased, “I could make you do anything right now and it feels as incredible for you as it does for me. I can feel how you’re wondering what you’ll have to do. I see inside you, Haimanutha Achalaa, and I know what you hope I’ll make you do… Things you haven’t the courage to do yourself.”
 
... [He says] “This is not the way to test it. I beseech you – let me go, Satya Aramais, and I’ll show you what I have the courage to do.”
 
She considers proceeding consensually but instead continues to enjoy the prospect of assaulting him:

His eyes burned into me and it was thrilling. I’d underestimated him, and I was tempted to let go of the sword and just tackle him right then and there, to let him prove it to me. But something in me didn’t want to let the sword go, it wanted to keep going, it wanted to command him, it wanted to control him a little more. And that something in me was winning.
 
I shook my head at him again, “Not yet… First, tell me, Haimanutha Achalaa, how long have you loved me?”
 
His eyes shining, he breathed, “Since the day I first met you, Satya Aramais. Now, please –”

She knows she’s gone too far. Keeps going:
 
I knew that I had gone too far. And I knew I was going to go farther.

She continues to gleefully plan the assault while forcing him to speak his intimate secrets, humiliating him. He begs her to stop while she assures him she loves him:

...He was afraid of what I’d make him reveal. Or what I may do next. I knew exactly what I was going to do.

...“Yes, Satya Aramais, I wanted you then…. And I am ashamed… Please stop this…”
 
...Shaking my head, I said, “Don’t be ashamed, please. It’s perfect – you’re perfect. I love you…”
 
“As I love you,” he breathed, his eyes worried. “But what you’re doing isn’t right…. There’s something wrong…. Will you let me go now?”
 
I whispered, “Not until you kiss me as you have never kissed another.”
 
...“Please, stop this.”
 
Needing his love, I sighed, “Then come to me now, and kiss me, touch me, love me like you never have before.”

Because she loves him, she goes ahead and sexually assaults him by magically compelling him to kiss him (while of course also scaring him into the belief she'll make him do worse).

Groaning loudly, he moved to me in a flash and was on his knees directly before me, leaning against my legs. He pressed his mouth to mine, his warm lips wrapping around my own as he kissed me passionately, completely...

The only reason the assault ends is because she accidentally lets go of the sword, which releases him from the spell. She immediately wishes they could keep going:

The moment I let go of the sword, Hay was on his feet and looming over me, his sword in his hand behind his back. I fell back on the bed and tried to catch my breath, pulling my dress down below my knees.
 
Breathless himself, he glowered at me and thundered, “What were you thinking?!”
 
...I was stunned a little, wondering myself what I had been thinking, knowing I really hadn’t been, that I’d been feeling, only feeling, and wanting. And I was lost in the haze of his kiss and touch, wishing he’d come back to me.
 
He's furious about what he almost did (breaking his oath by having sex with her). She says sorry. He’s in anguish that she violated a sacred trust, and so angry he shatters the stone floor with his sword.

I sat up slowly, suddenly embarrassed. I began trembling from the anger and fear radiating from him. “I’m sorry, Hay…”
 
...Chest heaving as he pointed with his sword to the destroyed floor, he choked out through tears, “What you made me do right there, what you did to me – ” He stopped and swallowed hard, “You violated a sacred trust between us, Satya Aramais. Don’t you see that? You violated my oath to you. And you forced the most holy thing we can give one another – our bodies – our bodies, Satya Aramais…. You forced me to –” He cut off his words and tears streamed down his face as he looked at me with devastated, sorrowful eyes. “How could you do that to me? To us? To yourself? How could you?”

But Charlie, perhaps this entire scene was meant to teach Satya a lesson about the harmful misuse of power!

Well… no. The scene is about how awful this was for… Satya. She makes excuses for violating him, takes no responsibility, and shows no understanding of his suffering. She cries. A lot. (16 references to her sobbing and wailing coming up.) She wants her burden lifted.

​I was crying, seeing the pain in his face and hearing it in his voice. I was full of shame and regret and I couldn’t even explain why I’d done it. I sobbed, shaking my head, unable to find the words he needed. I couldn’t make this go away, I couldn’t make it go away… God, please make it go away…
 
...Turning away from me, he turned his face up at the ceiling and threw his arms over his eyes. His shoulders shook silently with grief and betrayal.
 
I wanted to go to him, to hold him and beg him for his forgiveness as I watched him suffer. I cried openly on the bed... [He walks out.]
 
I disintegrated on the bed, screaming my sobs into the blankets. I was so full of despair, I could barely breathe and I wished death would just come and take me, rid me of all of this and lift the burden my life was on Hay and so many others...

I must have cried myself to sleep...
 
She feels ashamed, wicked, undeserving, horrible! She's grieving!?! yada yada, Woe is me! She wants God to take away her bad feelings! Cries so much she’s screaming! She wants to die! The memory of the scene is too much for her! For her.

The tears began again, and I just lay and cried. The grief was unbearable as I thought of how he’d asked me to stop and I hadn’t listened... The images were too much for me and I sobbed aloud.
 
I begged God to take me away and to set Hay free of me. I was my father’s daughter – and my mother’s – I realized, and I loathed myself...
 
I curled up in a ball and gripped the blankets to my face. I sobbed until I just couldn’t anymore, wishing death would come take me... And please, God, take me away from here, give me death and rid them all of me. Just rid them all of me now. Please, I beg you… give me death...

​Her solution to being an abuser: Get her victim fired!
 
But death didn’t come for me. Not yet. I lay there silently with my face in the blankets, tears burning my swollen eyes. And then it occurred to me – I knew what I had to do. I’d go to the Council and have Hay removed as my guardian.

But Charlie, perhaps the author explores how the victim’s humiliation and devastation help Satya understand the gravity of what she did, leading to her learning some empathy as she considers how her victim can heal.

Well… no. Not that, either…

Guys, Hay is fine! His sexual assault was beneficial! It triggered telepathy between them! ​He comforts her and wants her to stop feeling bad. She asks for reassurance she's not wicked and makes him acknowledge her love. She'll die if he doesn't forgive her. What message is this sending?

His voice was hoarse, crackly, “I cannot explain, but since – since – since you commanded me – your thoughts have been coming to me clearly. They’re private and I have the sense you don’t intend them for me.” His brow furrowed severely, “They’re terrible thoughts, you must stop this…”
 
...A sob escaped my lips as I raised my eyes back to his. He said, “To think you know better than he that you should have death and not life... I fear for your soul when you think such a thing... And you are not wicked. You are lost...

I sobbed as I thought I understood what he meant. I choked out, “Do you believe that I love you?”
 
Silently, he clenched his jaw and looked away from me, nodding slightly with misty eyes.
 
“Will you ever be able to forgive me for what I’ve done?” I felt like I would die if he said no.​

Given the chance to assess what she did, Satya says I dunno, something something fated lovers so it really wasn’t my fault plus this is confusing to me which is kinda your fault for being my guardian:

His voice cracked, “Do you even know what you’ve done?” Sadness spilled from him.
 
“Honestly, I don’t think I do,” I cried, shaking my head. “But I’m trying, I swear to you I’m trying to understand what’s happening between us, Haimanutha. But I’m failing, I know I am”... Through my tears, I tried to explain...
 
...I was trembling as I cried and tried to look at him. “And then I have what’s before me now – you. And how I feel for you, the you I know, but it’s all tied up in this twisted mix of need and love and lust and dependency.” There was a look in his eyes that made me cry even harder.
 
“I mean, I depend on you to keep me alive, and in some ways it’s sick, Haimanutha, and it perverts my feelings for you because it takes the love I have and twists it together with desperation and violence – and it just isn’t right. It isn’t, but I want it so much, I do, I want it just so damn much that I don’t know what to do.” I bent forward, doubled over and buried my hands in my face and sobbed...

Her crying wrecks him. HE'LL DO ANYTHING TO FIX HER EMOTIONAL DISTRESS CAUSED BY HER ABUSING HIM!

“Satya Aramais,” he implored, “your thoughts are wrecking me. Please stop.”
 
I sobbed even harder, crumbling forward to the floor and gripping his jeans in my fists, burying my face against his legs. I didn’t know how I’d go on without him, how I’d live, how I’d die, how I’d not become my father.
 
“Stop,” he choked, “please.”
 
I pleaded, “Don’t leave me, Haimanutha…. I need you – I love you – I’m begging you – don’t leave me – don’t leave me.”
 
He swiftly bent and lifted me from the floor, wrapping me in his arms. I threw my arms around him, wailing into his shirt.
 
“Shhh, stop crying now. Enough,” he whispered into my hair. “Nothing changes – I can never leave you. I’ve already told you – I live for you. I should have told you centuries ago – I love you. I will never leave you. I swear, only God himself can take me from you.”
 
We clung to one another desperately and all I could think was how much I loved him and how I was so afraid of who I was becoming and how it might destroy him along the way.
 
“Stop,” he whispered, clinging to me even tighter. “I can’t take it.” I tried to stop but I couldn’t. I knew that in some way we didn’t even realize yet, I had ruined what we’d had. There was something pure between us and now it felt shattered, broken.
 
“No,” he said, pulling me from him... “Stop crying and understand that I will do anything for you.”

He undresses them both and wants sex with his abuser:

Was this really happening?

“Yes,” he said like falling rain upon my lips. “This is really happening. I give you myself, Satya Aramais, all of me.” He kissed me. “There is nothing broken between us. You have my forgiveness. And my love. And my soul. And now, you may have my body.”...

Satya asks him to stop. He does stop. What a guy!

I whispered to him, “Wait. Please, wait. I’m scared.”
 
...He looked at me intensely, eyes searching mine. He said, “I hear your thoughts and see the fear in your eyes. Forgive me, Satya Aramais.”

He reaffirms he'll never leave her (his abuser), and she falls asleep without the bother of bad dreams. Whew.
 
“Shhh, stop worrying,” he whispered against my forehead. “Sleep now. Everything will be fine, I promise.”
 
I closed my eyes and like sweet relief, sleep came quickly and spared me dreams.

Next morning, Satya gets turned on by the thought of abusing Hay last night and then does it all over again: while touching the sword again, she taunts him and compels him to tell her several intimate things including that she’s never been more beautiful than the morning after the night she assaulted him. The scene ends with her persuading him to have sex.

I flushed red with embarrassment as I remembered slicing my finger with the blade. It had been exciting and even sensual when I’d done it. And I’d felt powerful as I’d smeared my blood along it, watching the shock in his eyes as I’d wanted to command him. Even as I was thinking about it, my stomach grew warm and I wanted to pull him to me. I didn’t understand where the impulse had come from at the time, but I did understand how it made me feel and how much I’d liked it...
 
“We have to do this to put last night behind us...” In an instant, he grabbed my hands and forcefully placed them on the sword. I jumped and squealed from the surprise of it, but gave in and picked it up...
 
“Tell me what you’re thinking,” I asked, holding the sword delicately.
 
He breathed, “I was just thinking that you’ve never been more beautiful than you are now. Sitting there in my shirt with my trust in your hands.”
 
My heart leapt in my chest and I wanted to kiss him. I asked, “If I tell you to kiss me, that means you have to, right?”
 
His eyes grew worried. “Yes.”
 
...I held my breath as he spoke, unintentionally tightening my grip on the sword. “Tell me more,” I whispered.
 
He shuddered and struggled to breathe steadily. He choked out, “And I feel more possessive of you than I’ve ever felt in all our lifetimes. And more violent about maintaining that than ever before…” His voice trailed off before he pleaded with anxious eyes, “Please make this stop now; I don’t want to say more.”

​Did I mention our heroine Satya is the most important person in the universe across space and time – God’s most blessed first creation? An immortal being who abuses someone without consequence and is instantly forgiven by her victim:

“God has not damned you, Satya Aramais. You cannot begin to understand his ways, but you must trust them. You are blessed, his most blessed first creation.”

What does it all mean?

Special snowflake fated to save the world is a common YA fantasy trope. Problematic writing on consent is nothing new either. It’s a terrible message to send teenagers, but a lot of YA fiction is irresponsible in this regard.

But why did higher beings think this was a good idea?

Maybe… it wasn’t higher beings guiding the themes behind Angelia Schultz’s novel. Maybe it was her own fantasies about controlling and abusing people, then playing victim, love-bombing, and expecting the abused to come crawling back with words of eternal adoration.

Maybe.

Note I said fantasies. For an author, fiction is fantasy that amuses them enough to want to share it. However, I've spent the last 3.5 years cataloguing ways in which Anjali has acted out some of those fantasies using real people to get what she seems to think she deserves and instigating smear campaigns and threats of lawsuits and doxing when they don't play along.

Anyway. Completing a novel is an awesome achievement. Good luck with your book, Anj! A first-time author (even a liberal middle-aged woman?!) might get the messaging around sexual assault wrong and that’s not unforgivable. But when higher beings are guiding that message… it’s unfathomable.

​P.S. Vennie, who said Anjali only thought she met aliens in a tunnel as a cover memory for being assaulted by the property owners, and then after Ryan Gordon exploded they became BFFs and she was going to be interviewed on Anj's podcast but didn't show up, and then they fell out again after Anj accidentally sent her a phone call that made Vennie think she and the property owners were conspiring to fake aliens to make money or something... Vennie loved the book: