Extrasensory perception (ESP)

Example of a subject in a Ganzfeld experiment. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Extrasensory perception (ESP) is a type of alleged psi phenomena. ESP is sometimes used as an umbrella term for many types of alleged paranormal phenomena but it properly refers to the ideas of telepathy (reading another’s thoughts) and clairvoyance (‘seeing’ without the eyes).

Some Fundamentalist, Protestant and Catholic Christians have a knee-jerk reaction to this idea, saying ESP is the workings of Satan, a delusion or evidence of mental illness. However, in Catholicism some of the more advanced saints claim to have been given similar gifts, usually called the reading of hearts. Indeed, some Catholic mystics claim to know another’s thoughts and/or feel their emotions near or at a distance with no observable cues.

Reading of Hearts. The knowledge of the secret thoughts of others or of their internal state without communication is known as reading of hearts. The certain knowledge of the secret thoughts of others is truly super-natural, since the devil has no access to the spiritual faculties of men and no human being can know the mind of another unless it is in some way communicated. But knowledge of the secrets of another’s heart may be conjectured by the devil and transmitted to a person, or they may be surmised by a deluded individual who takes his conjectures to be supernatural illuminations.¹

From the above it should be clear that Catholics – or, at least, sane Catholics – are cautious when it comes to mysticism. Central to Catholic mysticism is the idea of discernment or “the discernment of spirits.” Discernment is said to be a gift and acquired ability that enables one to differentiate supernatural experiences and abilities that come from God from those that do not.

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¹ AUMANN, J. “Mystical Phenomena.” New Catholic Encyclopedia. 2nd ed. Vol. 10. Detroit: Gale, 2003. 105-109. Gale Virtual Reference Library. Web. 29 Apr. 2012.

Relates Posts » Alien Possession Theory, Paranormal, Randi (James), Psychokinesis, Remote Viewing, Sheldrake (Rupert)

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Guiley, Rosemary Ellen

Example of a subject in a Ganzfeld experiment via Wikipedia

Rosemary Ellen Guiley (19?? – ) is an American researcher, author and broadcaster on paranormal phenomena. Dr. Guiley promotes awareness of the paranormal. At her website she writes that her “driving purpose is to help further our understanding of our place and role in the cosmic scheme” (visionaryliving.com). She also addresses issues like communicating with the dead and dealing with malevolent spirits.

This is all very interesting stuff. Unfortunately, it’s still difficult for most people to understand because of the inherent difficulties in the public verification of paranormal reports. In addition, some materialist or (ironically enough) religious reactionaries tend to cast aspersions on anyone interested in trying to understand the paranormal—even though the very same people will often delight at movies like The Exorcist.¹

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¹ The Swiss psychiatrist Carl Jung, of course, would say that the horror movie watcher is momentarily fascinated by the archetype of the shadow. For Jung this is not unhealthy. But in some destructive instances, if left unconscious the shadow archetype apparently can erupt and compel non-integrated individuals to behave in a manner harmful to self or others.

Related Posts » Clairaudience, Clairsentience, Remote Viewing, Tarot

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Mishlove, Jeffrey

Example of a subject in a Ganzfeld experiment via Wikipedia

Jeffrey Mishlove (1946-) is the first American to receive a doctorate in parapsychology.

Mishlove has authored several books about intuition, mysticism and spirituality. He hosted the video series, “Thinking Allowed,” which featured leading and diverse figures like Michael Talbot, Russell Targ, Kenneth Ring and Jean Millay.

Transcripts for much of that series are online at intuition.org.

Mishlove currently teaches a course on intuition and parapsychology.

Search Think Free » Remote Viewing, Smith (Huston)

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Psychokinesis

Psychokinesis in Orange: needoptic / Aurimas

Also called PK, psychokinesis is a form of psi in which a person’s thoughts allegedly affect objects in an observable manner.

This includes moving or transforming objects in space. One of the most famous exponents of transforming objects is Uri Geller, who has bent spoons in public, apparently with the power of his mind.

Detractors such as James Randi suggest that Geller is a fraud, using trickery without the revealing the integrity to call himself a conjurer.

Since many PK performances are on TV or seen on the internet as video clips, it’s virtually impossible for the ordinary person to ascertain their authenticity. A movie editor with even the simplest video editing software could produce the illusion of, say, spoon-bending.

The scientific community generally agrees that there’s no conclusive proof for psychokinesis. However, many have reported spontaneous instances of objects moving (or appliances switching on or off) in relation to severe emotions of anger or fear. For instance, someone gets angry and all the stove elements turn on.

As a volunteer working in the paranormal section at allexperts.com, I have received countless reports of psychokineses-like phenomena. Whether or not all are authentic or the result of wannabe fantasy writers cannot be determined. But from a sheer statistics perspective, it would seem that at least some of the fantastic accounts I’ve read and replied to are authentic.

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Psi

Psychic World: Roadsidepictures / Allen

Psi (Ψ, ψ) is a letter from the Greek alphabet, which in the 20th century came to refer to so-called paranormal phenomena.

The term was coined by Bertold P. Wiesner and was first appropriated in 1942 by Drs. Robert Thouless to designate ESP.¹ It later became something of an umbrella concept for a wide range of alleged abilities, to include psychokinesis.

Psi was also popularized in a Canadian TV program, Psi Factor (1996-2000), hosted by Dan Aykroyd, that dramatized the pros and cons of alleged psi abilities.

The status of psi remains controversial. Skeptics argue that no hard scientific evidence supports the idea. By way of contrast, enthusiasts say that psi is not amenable to science as currently understood and practiced.

Meanwhile, middle ground theorists like C. G. Jung claim, rightly or wrongly, that some published experiments yielded significant results.²

More recently, depth psychologists and cutting edge thinkers are calling for a new type of science that (a) would include diverse accounts of personal spiritual and paranormal experience as legitimate data for scientific study and (b) redefine what we mean by science to enable more holistic schemas, which would be considered scientific and not just examples of scientism.

In addition, some religious thinkers rightly question the ethical aspects of psi. While psi may exist, they argue, we’d do well to ask whether or not these abilities are in line with the Good, and more precisely, God’s will. This question opens the door to the possibility that evil agencies may endow individuals (or appear to endow them) with psi.

With regard to the idea that individuals may be deluded about their belief in psi abilities, psychiatry tends to view the issue in terms of mental health and illness. While not absolutely negating the possibility of psi, contemporary psychiatry would also consider whether the brain is creating some kind of hallucination which could give patients the false belief that they had special psychic powers.

Interestingly, in the Catholic fold there’s a curious presence of traditional religious and modern psychiatric perspectives. Exorcism prayers are still read over those deemed possessed or obsessed by an evil spirit. But at the same time, afflicted individuals may be screened beforehand to ensure that the issue is a spiritual and not a psychological one.

While this approach is not without merit, it seems to reflect the same kind of compartmentalized and, perhaps, politically expedient thinking and practice that the Catholic Church has exhibited over the centuries.

Instead of an either/or situation, it seems reasonable to suggest that spiritual deception could result from some combination of both psychological and spiritual issues. And effective treatments may require both religious and psychological procedures.

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¹ Thouless, R. H. (1942) cited at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Psi_%28parapsychology%29, “Experiments on paranormal guessing”. British Journal of Psychology, 33, 15-27.

² Clark, Michael. Synchronicity and poststructuralism: C. G. Jung’s secularization of the supramundane, 1997: pp. 72, 119-122, 130, 156-157, 177-179.

» Akashic Records, Aliens and Extraterrestrials (ETs) , Clairvoyance, Psi Spies, Pyramids, Talbot (Michael), UFO

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Clairalience

Psychic house: Nick Douglas via Flickr

Clairalience is an alleged psi phenomenon, usually described as a type of clairsentience.

Clairalience is the apparent smelling of odors and scents beyond the usual range of human perception.

Reports of clairalience take three main forms:

1. Smelling a familiar odor or scent associated with a loved one who has passed.

This often occurs sometime shortly before, during or not too long after the loved one’s passing.

In parapsychology it’s hypothesized that this type of clairalience takes place to warn, prepare or possibly reassure friends and family that departed loved ones are still with them but in another realm.

2. Smelling a hellish, rancorous odor such as burning sulphur, or heavenly scent such as roses.

In parapsychology it’s hypothesized that this type of clairalience occurs to warn of the dangers of hell and, conversely, to reassure of the joys of heaven.

3. Smelling another living person or thing at a distance beyond the range of the normal senses. This may be further differentiated into smelling at a distance (a) a physical body or ‘gross’ environment or (b) a spiritual body, essence or ‘subtle’ environment.

Psychic Spell Breaker by Metrix X via Flickr

Parapsychologists hypothesize that type three takes place to teach human beings that all of creation is connected in some fundamental way, with the implication that we should strive to behave responsibly toward others, our planet and beyond.

As for the mysterious connecting principle implied by the idea of clairalience, tentative explanations vary according to the worldview of the theorist.

For instance, a Catholic might talk of The Holy Spirit or Satan whereas a sub-atomic physicist or futurist might invoke concepts such as wormholes, quantum non-locality and quantum interconnectedness.

Meanwhile, a psychiatrist would likely want to check for physiological factors contributing to so-called olfactory hallucinations (phantosmia) before considering the possibility of psi.

And individuals with a strong materialist bias might entirely dismiss the idea of psi and prefer to explain according to a neuropsychological model.

To this Art Garza adds:

What sort of smells occur in your type three clairalience? And would the smells be all different or occur all at once? And as far as purpose goes, is there any purposed idea on what the individual smells mean? What are they smelling? the souls, essence, psyche… i know they are all related in some way but certainly there is a name which works best… personality? » See in context

Michael Clark replies:

I think you are pointing toward a distinction that could be made in type 3 between smelling at a distance (a) a living person’s spiritual essence or environment and (b) their physical body or environment. » See in context

 

Remote Viewing

Charging My Batteries aka Sun Worship: Vox Efx

Remote Viewing

The term ‘Remote Viewing’ (RV) was coined by Russell Targ and Harold Puthoff.

RV is the alleged ability to internally perceive objects and events at a distance beyond the range of the normal senses.

Remote Viewers (RVers) usually say they perceive objects and events in the past, present and probable future. But RVers don’t believe they psychologically time travel when seeing the past. Instead, they say they access a holographic cosmic memory bank that records all of the events that ever took place, somewhat like the Akashic Records of Theosophy and Anthroposophy.

With regard to the future, RVers apparently see possible outcomes but don’t claim to predict the future with any certainty.

One difficulty with RV is a margin of error that researcher Dale Graff calls “white noise.” RVers strive to scientifically verify their distance visions and apparently are developing new methods to increase accuracy.

On this point RVers differ from some psychics who remain convinced that their distance visions are accurate without ever attempting to verify them.

Interestingly, RV researcher Russell Targ says his team got better scientific results when they kept the research environment “fun” and relaxed.

Although Targ admits to making money from RVing future probabilities, he reports that human greed came to interfere with the success of his experiments.¹

Targ later introduced the term Remote Sensing because RV may also be accompanied by an inner sense of hearing, smell and touch.

The paranormal writer Rosemary Ellen Guiley says that Remote Sensing is a well-documented phenomenon, both in ancient and contemporary times.

According to Anthony C. LoBaido at WorldNetDaily.com and Steve Hammons at AmericanChronicle.com, the CIA has used RV for intelligence gathering. LoBaido also claims that the FBI has adopted RV for the same purposes.

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¹ Thinking Allowed with Dr. Jeffrey Mishlove, “ESP, Clairvoyance and Remote Perception with Russell Targ“.

» Akashic Records, Clairvoyance, Doors, ESP, New Age, Psychic Spies, Seer, “The New Age and Remote Viewing,” Third Eye

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Sheldrake, Rupert

I almost changed the world today by PhotoGraham

Sheldrake, Rupert (1942 – )

Former Cambridge biochemist raised in a British Methodist family whose overall work attempts to integrate scientific and spiritual issues.

In Seven Experiments Which Could Change the World (1994) Sheldrake outlines low-cost experiments that he encourages readers to perform.

One experiment deals with ESP perception as a form of ‘looking.’ Sheldrake asks why we perceive somebody looking at us from behind or even at some distance (e.g. through a window).

Sheldrake suggests that some type of perception other than everyday eyesight is involved.

This idea is followed up in Dogs that Know When Their Owners are Coming Home, and Other Unexplained Powers of Animals (1999).

In keeping with this hypothesis, his subsequent book was called, The Sense of Being Stared At, And Other Aspects of the Extended Mind (2003).

Sheldrake has recently conducted controlled experiments on telephone and e-mail precognition. He found significant results suggesting that people knew when others were about to call them on the telephone, with a sample size of 63. A similar kind of precognition was also found with e-mail, with a sample size of 50.

Most recently his website asks: Have you thought of someone who then sends you a text message? offering a link for visitors to report their observations.

Sheldrake continues to publish books containing his interviews and dialogues with other notables in the New Age / Holistic Health circuit, along with replies to numerous critics who say he’s lost touch with recent theories in neurobiology and, indeed, abandoned science in favor of so-called magical thinking.

Not all scientists are at odds with his views, however. The late physicist David Bohm said Sheldrake’s ideas were in keeping with his own about an implicate and explicate order.

For more on Sheldrake’s theories, see Morphic resonance, Morphic fields and Morphogenetic Fields.

At Earthpages.org:

• Articles relating to search string, Sheldrake

On the Web:

» Kayzer (Wim)

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Swedenborg, Emanuel

Emanuel Swedenborg at the age of 75, holding the manuscript of Apocalypsis Revelata (1766)

Swedenborg, Emanuel (1688-1772)

Swedish scientist who, after recovering from a psychological crisis, became a mystic claiming to speak on a regular basis with angelic, alien and demonic beings.

Although interesting and presented in an orderly fashion, some of Swedenborg’s writings seem questionable.

He writes, for instance, that spirits told him people lived in wooden buildings and tents on the planet Jupiter:

Their dwellings were also shown me. They are lowly dwellings constructed of wood; but within they are lined with bark or cork of a pale blue colour, and the walls and ceiling are spotted as with stars, to represent the heaven; for they are fond of picturing the visible heaven with its constellations in the interiors of their houses, the reason being that they believe the constellations to be the abodes of the angels. They have tents also, which are rounded off above and extended in length, spotted likewise within with stars on a blue ground. They retire into these in the day-time, to prevent their faces suffering from the heat of the sun. They bestow much care on the fashioning of these tents of theirs, and on keeping them clean. In them they also take their repasts.†

Similarly, Swedenborg said that a spirit from the moon said that the voices of that satellite’s inhabitants “made a loud thundering sound.”

With no atmosphere on the moon’s surface, necessary for sound waves and hearing, one wonders how this could be possible.

It’s easy to assume that Swedenborg’s accounts merely reflect the popular imagination of his day, suggesting that he was a quack or charlatan. But one could argue that some of the problems with his far-fetched claims arise from translation and interpretation, along with his human limitations from living in the 17th and 18th centuries.

Swedenborgians could argue, for instance, that the beings on the moon weren’t physical but were composed of energy or spirit—likewise with regard to the apparent ‘sound’ they made.

Swedenborg's Flying Machine (via Thomas Roche)

Whatever the truth may be, the psychiatrist Carl Jung notes that Swedenborg did have an accurate precognition of a great fire in Stockholm.

Concerning Christianity, Swedenborg’s work presents a novel interpretation of that religion.

He suggests that everything occurring in this life corresponds to a cosmic body, which he calls “The Universal Human.” And the different races of mankind apparently correspond to different regions of The Universal Human.

Likewise, Swedenborg says individual merits during Earthly life correspond to favorable afterlife regions in the cosmic body, such as the brain or the eye. But those who lead evil lives end up in undesirable, filth-ridden regions, such as the liver or intestines.

Swedenborg wrote copiously about demonic beings whose sole intent is to draw the energy from the living, causing severe pain and distress.

With regard to the idea of the Trinity, Rev. Glenn “Mac” at GlennFrazier.com adds:

Since you mention Swedenborg, it might be worth pointing out that he explicitly spoke up against the idea of a trinity of persons. According to his theology (in, e.g., his book, True Christian Religion), Jehovah the Father and Jesus the Son were not only one God, but also the one and only one person of God. Likewise, the Holy Spirit is the activity of that person, and not a seperate person in its own right. This is somewhat similar to Michael Servetus’ ideas expressed a good deal earlier in his “Errors of the Trinity”. Swedenborg’s idea of a trinity of essentials, rather than of persons, should not be confused with modalism—the idea of there being one God that at various times takes on different functions or modes in sequence. To Swedenborg, the Father was literally God’s soul, the Son his body, and the Spirit his influence/activity, not by analogy, but actually. » See in context

Swedenborg was not only interested in the inner life. Like other past innovators, he tried to devise technological contraptions that would eventually appear in some other form, such as a flying machine (pictured above).

Swedenborg’s work has been compiled, edited and commented on by the Swedenborg Foundation.

A student of Swedenborg’s works, Judah, adds:

A final thought: while I enjoy pondering the existence of life on other planets, I find it more enjoyable – and meaningful – to explore the ideas in Swedenborg’s writings that have to do with wisely loving my fellow human beings and our creator – the Divine Human. » See in context

» Aliens, Angels, Demons, Vampires

On the Web:

• http://thegodguy.wordpress.com (an intelligent, pro-Swedenborg blog)
• “Part 1 of 8: This week on Science and the Outer Streams, Andy Nesky, President of the Pittsburgh Chapter of the Theosophical Society, welcomes the Rev. Dr. Jonathan S. Rose. Dr. Rose discusses the life, legacy and works of Swedish philosopher, scientist, and theologian Emmanuel Swedenborg. Swedenborg has been called one of the greatest thinkers Sweden has ever produced, and his theology sparked a Christian religious movement known as The New Jerusalem Church. Dr. Rose is the series editor and the translator for the “New Century Edition,” a series of annotated English translations of Swedenborg’s theological writings. He has been the Curator of the Swedenborgia Library and is now a chaplain and assistant professor of Religion and Sacred Languages at Bryn Athyn College of the New Church”

• Rock and roll song dealing with Swedenborg’s ideas:

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† Earths in our Solar System which are called Planets and Earths in the Starry Heaven: Their Inhabitants, and the Spirits and Angels there from things Heard and Seen from the Latin of Emanuel Swedenborg, Swedenborg Society, London: 1962, par 59.

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Synchronicity

Chambre de glace dans le pays by De Giffted Artist

Synchronicity

Synchronicity is a scientific sounding term coined by the Swiss psychiatrist C. G. Jung to represent the idea of meaningful coincidence. Whether or not synchronicity is a truly scientific concept remains open to debate.

Implicit to Jung’s idea of synchronicity is the belief that all of creation is somehow connected.

Synchronicity takes three main forms:

1. The coincidence of a psychological state with a corresponding, simultaneously occurring external event with no evidence of causality.
2. The coincidence of a psychological state with a corresponding, simultaneous external event that occurs at a distance, beyond the observer’s normal range of perception.
3. The coincidence of a psychological state with a corresponding event that will occur in the future and which may be verified after its occurrence.

Whether or not synchronicity is a causal or acausal phenomenon is also a point of debate. Jung says it’s acausal but also suggests that the archetypes of the collective unconscious can lead toward synchronicities, implying some kind of causality.

This uncertainty might result from different understandings about the nature of consciousness—particularly, what constitutes the locus of consciousness.

Concerning ethics, synchronicity is ambiguous. Because the concept of synchronicity bears some similarity to the notion of the religious sign, it’s not surprising that different attempts have been made to link this aspect of Jungian thought to theology.

seaorange by shannon kringen

The following represents an attempt to synthesize Christian belief with the concept of synchronicity:

The natural universe, in the Jungian sense of the term natural, contains physical and spiritual dimensions. A person who acknowledges only the reality of the physical realm is incapable of recognizing how synchronicity operates in the New Testament and in our world and cannot see the power of the spiritual. By contrast, a person who goes to the other extreme, who sees reality only in the spiritual realm and denies reality in the physical world, will not spend much time bettering the world and will fall readily into superstition (Morton T. Kelsey, Christo-psychology, New York: Crossroad, 1982, p. 131).

And Fausto Intilla adds, from the perspective of natural pantheism:

If we accept the idea that our Universe really is God, well, in a infinite Caos of Energy too, there must to be a logical (but not for human brain), exact, specific, and perfectly organized …Plan.

How many significant (important) coincidences can happen to a person in his life, living in a unorganizated and stupid Universe?…I think no-one. Every synchronism in our life, is like an open-eyes-dream (Jung taught)…and we can thank the fine intelligence of our Universe…if they happen. » See in context

Some philosophers dismiss the entire notion of synchronicity with the idea of “confirmation bias.” Confirmation bias is described in Wikipedia as

a tendency to search for or interpret new information in a way that confirms one’s preconceptions and avoids information and interpretations which contradict prior beliefs. » Source.

However, we can turn the idea of confirmation bias right back to those who adhere to it as if it were some kind of untouchable universal principle. While the idea of confirmation bias is certainly worthy of consideration, Jung stressed that one doesn’t look for synchronicity but simply witnesses it.

Moreover, some theologians consider the possibility that a biased mind, which we all most likely have, could be temporarily informed by influences superceding one’s psychological makeup, expectations and so on. Indeed, to reduce all synchronistic experience to a humanly constructed idea of “confirmation bias” seems limiting and even unscientific.

This is especially so since parapsychological phenomena tagged as synchronicity often involve the inner experience of numinosity and the outer observing person, and not just psychologically selected or filtered data gained by the senses.

On the Web:

• Article at Earthpages.org » Synchronicity: New Age Fantasy or Face of the Future?
• Synchronicity and Poststructuralism (Ph.D. Thesis by Michael W. Clark – pdf)
• Synchronicity entry at Wikipedia
• “Synchronicity” video at Youtube by the popular 1970s and 80s British rock band, The Police:

» Akashic Records, Causality, Collective Unconscious, Divination, Gawain (Shakti), Hume (David), I Ching, Joachim of Fiore, Jung (Carl Gustav), Klein (Melanie), Koestler (Arthur), Leibniz (Gottfried Wilhelm), Miracles, Morphogenetic Fields, Ram Dass, Talbot (Michael), Unconscious

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