“The day science begins to study non-physical phenomena, it will make more progress in one decade than in all the previous centuries of its existence.” – Nikola Tesla
If you google “parapsychology,” the
first thing that will probably pop up is a Wikipedia entry loosely (and,
in my opinion, rather offensively) defining it as a “pseudoscience.”
This is unfortunate, because it distracts the reader from realizing that
psychical research, also known as ‘psi’ (or parapsychology), is
practiced by various scientists and reputable institutions all over the
world. This includes the study of paranormal activity and extended human
human capacities like precognition and telepathy, among other things.
As the University of Calgary points out, parapsychology is an
interdisciplinary field which has attracted physicists, engineers,
biologists, psychologists, and researchers in other sciences as well.
The Princeton Engineering Anomalies
Research (PEAR) project is a great example of this comprehensive
approach to the subject — a project that ran from 1979 until 2007, it
aimed to examine if there was factual basis for theories in mind/matter
interaction, or extrasensory perception (ESP). Highly significant
statistical deviation, far beyond what one could expect from chance, was
seen there. Another example would be the University of Virginia’s
Division of Perceptual Studies, in which they explore such phenomena as
reincarnation, near death experiences (NDEs), and out of body
experiences (OBEs).
“Studies of the so-called ‘psi
phenomena’ indicate that we can sometimes receive meaningful information
without the use of ordinary senses, and in ways that transcend the
habitual space and time constraints. Furthermore, psi research
demonstrates that we can mentally influence—at a distance—physical
devices and living organisms (including other human beings). Psi
research also shows that distant minds may behave in ways that are
nonlocally correlated, i.e. the correlations between distant minds are
hypothesized to be unmediated (they are not linked to any known
energetic signal), unmitigated (they do not degrade with increasing
distance), and immediate (they appear to be simultaneous). These events
are so common that they cannot be viewed as anomalous nor as exceptions
to natural laws, but as indications of the need for a broader
explanatory framework that cannot be predicated exclusively on
materialism.” (source) – Manifesto for a Post-Materialist Science
The examination of these types of
phenomena is vital to increasing our understanding about the nature of
our reality. A lot of new science is revealing how many, and how
diverse, are the factors are which influence the so-called ‘physical
material world that we see around us. So what can we learn from this
information? To keep an open mind, to know that not everything we
believe to be true, is, and that maybe there are components of our
reality that we have yet to understand. We can learn that it’s okay to
take topics like this seriously, because there is a wealth of very
compelling statistical data and observation that has many scientists
interested in it… and perplexed.
Reincarnation
“There are claims in the
parapsychology field which, in my opinion, deserve serious study, [with
one being] that young children sometimes report details of a previous
life, which upon checking turn out to be accurate and which they could
not have known about in any other way than reincarnation.” – Carl Sagan
This topic has been studied by numerous scientists who belong to various academic institutions from all over the world.
One great example comes from University
of Virginia psychiatrist Jim Tucker, who in 2008 published a review of
cases suggestive of reincarnation in the journal Explore.(source)
In the article, he describes a typical
reincarnation case, where subjects start reporting a past life
experience. One common denominator of these cases is that they all
involve children, with the average age being 35 months when subjects
begin to report their experiences. The experiences described are often
detailed and extensive, and Tucker points out that many of these
children show strong emotional involvement when speaking about their
claims; some cry and beg to be taken to what they say is their previous
family. Others show intense anger.
“The subjects usually stop
making their past-life statements by the age of six to seven, and most
seem to lose the purported memories. That is the age when children start
school and begin having more experiences in the current life, as well
as when they tend to lose their early childhood memories.” (source)
One example Tucker describes, an
American case, is of a child named Sam Taylor, who was a year and a half
old when he started revealing some remarkable information:
“He looked up as his father was
changing his diaper and said, “When I was your age, I used to change
your diapers.” He began talking more about having been his grandfather.
He eventually told details of his grandfather’s life that his parents
felt certain he could not have learned through normal means, such as the
fact that his grandfather’s sister had been murdered and that his
grandmother had used a food processor to make milkshakes for his
grandfather every day at the end of his life.” (source)
Again, this is one of hundreds of cases.
Children have also been taken to their previous families, describing
the qualities and characteristics of the families, and their own past
lives, about which there is no possible way the child could know. Here
is another specific case that was examined by Dr. Tucker, which we
wrote about a couple of months ago. And there are plenty more to choose
from.
These are cases involving very young
children and they offer little reason to suspect a hoax. From a
scientific standpoint, however, even though these cases are intriguing,
they still leave us with a problem that plagues most parapsychological
research today. As Tucker points out, “the processes that would
be involved in such a transfer of consciousness are completely unknown,
and they await further elucidation.” (source)
Precognition
For a selected list of downloadable
peer-reviewed journal articles reporting studies of psychic phenomena,
mostly published in the 21st century, you can click HERE.
At this link, you will find a select group of articles under the
“precognition & presentiment” tab and more than enough scientific
analyses to see why this topic is taken very seriously by some
scientists.
A recently published study (meta analysis) in the journal Frontiers in Human Neuroscience titled “Predicting the unpredictable: critical analysis and practical implications of predictive anticipatory activity” examined a number of experiments, conducted by several different laboratories, regarding this phenomenon.
These experiments indicate that the
human body can actually detect randomly delivered stimuli that occur
1-10 seconds in advance. In other words, the human body seems able to
know of an event and react to it before it actually occurs. This
reaction takes the form of physiological changes in the skin and in the
cardiopulmonary and nervous systems.
Quite fascinating, isn’t it?
Telepathy
HERE is an article outlining 5 classic experiments that showed extremely significant results for human telepathy.
Some of the most interesting results
come from something called “dream telepathy,” where human beings have
the ability to communicate telepathically with another person while they
are dreaming.
According to Stanley Krippner, Ph.D. and professor of psychology at Saybrook University in California:
A wealth of anecdotal and
clinical material exist which supports the possibility of telepathic
effects occurring in dreams (Krippner, 1974). However, an experimental
approach to the topic did not become possible until psycho physiological
laboratory technology became available. It was discovered that sleeping
research participants awakened from periods of rapid eye movement (REM)
activity were frequently able to recall dream episodes. As a result, it
was possible to request a “telepathic receiver” to attempt dreaming
about a target stimulus that was being focused on in a distant location
from a “telepathic sender.” (source)
The ‘Star Gate’ Project
The “Star Gate” project was a Defence
Intelligence Agency (DIA) program that examined parapsychological
phenomena for more than twenty years before it was unexpectedly shut
down.
One of the most interesting revelations (imo) when it comes to science and the paranormal comes from its remote viewing program.
Remote viewing is the ability of a
person to describe a remote geographical location up to several hundred
thousand kilometers from their actual physical location. It’s not just
one person who can do this — many people have been shown to have this
ability, and this is a verified fact. The CIA and NSA, in conjunction
with Stanford University, were involved in the scientific study of
parapsychological phenomena that lasted more than two decades; they
delved into remote viewing as part of this project.
In these experiments, multiple
individuals were able to describe distinct objects that were located in a
separate room and at other remote physical locations. (source)(source)
As reported by a publication in the
journal Scientific Exploration (linked above), one of the study’s
participants, Ingo Swann, was able to successfully describe and view a
ring around Jupiter that scientists had no idea existed at the time.
Quantum Double Slit Experiment
In this experiment, a double-slit
optical system was used to test the possible role of consciousness in
the collapse of the quantum wave-function. The ratio of the interference
pattern’s double slit spectral power to its single slit spectral power
was predicted to decrease when attention was focused toward the double
slit as compared to away from it. The study found that factors
associated with consciousness “significantly” correlated in predicted
ways with perturbations in the double slit interference pattern. (source)
“Observations not only disturb
what has to be measured, they produce it….We compel [the electron] to
assume a definite position…. We ourselves produce the results of
measurement.” (source)
“It was not possible to
formulate the laws of quantum mechanics in a fully consistent way
without reference to consciousness.” – Eugene Wigner, theoretical
physicist and mathematician who received a share of the Nobel Prize in
Physics in 1963
“A fundamental conclusion of the
new physics also acknowledges that the observer creates the reality. As
observers, we are personally involved with the creation of our own
reality. Physicists are being forced to admit that the universe is a
‘mental’ construction. Pioneering physicist Sir James Jeans wrote: ‘The
stream of knowledge is heading toward a non-mechanical reality; the
universe begins to look more like a great thought than like a great
machine. Mind no longer appears to be an accidental intruder into the
realm of matter, we ought rather hail it as the creator and governor of
the realm of matter. Get over it, and accept the inarguable conclusion.
The universe is immaterial-mental and spiritual.’ ” – R.C. Henry, Professor of Physics and Astronomy at Johns Hopkins University , “The Mental Universe”; Nature 436:29,2005)
This is a great experiment to show the connection between consciousness and our physical material world.
Out of Body Experiences & Near Death Experiences
Below is a video of Dr. Bruce Greyson
speaking at a conference that was held by the United Nations. He is
considered to be one of the fathers of near death studies. He is
Professor Emeritus of Psychiatry and Neurobehavioral Science at the
University of Virginia.
In the video he describes documented
cases of individuals who were clinically dead (showing no brain
activity) but observing everything that was happening to them on the
medical table below at the same time. He describes how there have been
many instances of this – where individuals are able to describe things
that should have been impossible for them to have knowledge of. Another
significant statement by Dr. Greyson posits that this type of study has
been discouraged due to our tendency to view science as completely
materialistic. Seeing is believing, so to speak, in the scientific
community. It’s unfortunate that just because we cannot explain
something through materialistic means, it must be instantly discredited.
The simple fact that “consciousness” itself is a non-physical “thing”
is troubling for some scientists; as a result of it being non material,
they believe it cannot be studied by science.
In 2001, international medical journal The Lancet published a 13 year study on Near Death Experiences (NDEs).(source)(source) Their findings were remarkable, to say the least:
“Our results show that medical
factors cannot account for the occurrence of NDE. All patients had a
cardiac arrest, and were clinically dead with unconsciousness resulting
from insufficient blood supply to the brain. In those circumstances, the
EEG (a measure of brain electrical activity) becomes flat, and if CPR
is not started within 5-10 minutes, irreparable damage is done to the
brain and the patient will die.” (source)
Another study comes out of the
University of Southampton, where scientists found evidence that
awareness can continue for at least several minutes after death. In the
scientific world this was thought to be impossible. The study, published
in the journal Resuscitation, is the world’s largest of its kind. (source)
Healing At A Distance
“Over the past thirty years, significant
scientific research has been conducted on the potential effectiveness
and value of distant healing practices. The practice of distant healing
is drawing increased attention as an important component of integral
medicine models that blend a range of approaches to health and healing.
Many leading health professionals and spiritual leaders believe distant
healing practices may significantly expand the capacity to facilitate
healing.” (source) Marilyn Schlitz, PhD, President of the Institute for Noetic Sciences (IONS)
Another great example of this is the placebo effect, which you can read more about here.
Another study
published in the journal Explore in 2008, examined the effects of
human intention on the autonomic nervous system of a human “sender” and
the distant “receiver” of those intentions.
The design of the study went as follows:
Skin conductance level was measured in
each member of a couple, both of whom were asked to feel the presence of
the other. While the receiving person relaxed in a distant shielded
room for 30 minutes, the sending person directed intention toward the
receiver during repeated 10-second epochs separated by random interepoch
periods. Thirty-six couples participated in 38 test sessions. In 22
couples, one of the pair was a cancer patient. In 12 of those couples,
the healthy person was trained to direct intention toward the patient
and asked to practice that intention daily for three months prior to the
experiment (trained group). In the other 10 couples, the pair was
tested before the partner was trained (wait group). Fourteen healthy
couples re- ceived no training (control group). (source)
The study concluded that a strong
motivation to heal another, and for one to be healed themselves, may
enhance this phenomenon. It concluded that directing intention toward a
distant person is associated with the activation of that person’s
autonomic nervous system — in this case, using measurements of skin
conductance.
No comments:
Post a Comment