Parapsychology, Spirituality, and the Battle Against Scientific Materialism — Part 1
This follows on from an introduction, where I outlined the reasons why I think a belief in parapsychology is so important in modern times.
I first became interested in ESP when I attended a course. This contributed to a period of a dramatic spiritual awakening. It seemed unconnected, but at the beginning of that period a friend of mine, for reasons unknown, pointed out to me an advert in a magazine for an ESP course. I was looking for interesting things to do, so decided to attend. It consisted of six consecutive Wednesday evenings, followed by a whole day Sunday workshop. Some time later there was a follow-up weekend by invitation only, which I attended. The leader was a member of the Society for Psychical Research.
I’ll briefly describe the method used in the experiments. The first requirement was to induce a state of mind conducive to ESP. We lay down, with our heads on a cushion, then tried to relax as much as possible each part of the body in turn. All this was an attempt to lower the brainwaves to the alpha level, a quasi-hypnagogic state. We often closed our eyes but then looked up internally towards the third eye, the pineal gland. This is believed to be the part of the body most associated with ESP abilities. Descartes called it “the seat of the soul”, and according to Swami Satyananda Saraswati: “the pineal gland is the receptor and sender of the subtle vibrations which carry thoughts and psychic phenomena throughout the cosmos”.
I’ll describe one of the experiments in which I participated, which was the one with the most striking and hopefully convincing result. This particular experiment is well-known in ESP circles, and my example took place during the closing Sunday workshop. Each of us was told in advance to come with the name and town of residence of someone of our acquaintance whom the others could not possibly know.
We divided into groups of three, one person going into the psychic state, another then giving the name and town of their acquaintance, and the third acting as secretary, writing down everything that was said. The psychic person was obviously trying to tune in to this person, and say without censoring anything, whatever came into their minds.
So each group went through the exercise three times, rotating the roles. I had chosen as my named friend someone who at the time was doing his final exams at university. One very noticeable thing about him, which anyone who knew him would agree, was that his handwriting was virtually illegible. Having named him, within a few seconds the psychic person said: “I see some very large halls. There is masses of handwriting in front of me, and I can’t read any of it”. I found that very impressive, the large halls obviously referring to the examination rooms.
When it was my turn to act as the psychic person, at some point a voice in my head suddenly insisted “say alligator”. In the discussion which followed, it emerged that the named person was an ex-partner. A highly significant episode in their relationship was a holiday in Florida, the most memorable moment of which was sitting watching alligators. For some reason this moment seemed to have some special symbolic significance for them.
This result raises a very interesting question. One would expect this experiment to work through images and visuals. In this example, however, there was nothing visual, not an image of alligators, rather the voice of some unknown consciousness directly communicating information. So who or what exactly was that voice?
For one individual, one single participation in this experiment completely changed his materialist worldview. This is the story of Brian O’Leary, who was a member of the astronaut programme during the 1960s, being trained for an eventual mission to Mars. He describes himself as a traditional scientist, having published over one hundred peer-reviewed technical papers in planetary science and astronautics. He says that then, having blocked any awareness of a far greater reality during the first two decades of his scientific career, he stumbled into a new perspective: “One by one, the sacred cows of reductionism and materialism fell before my believing eyes”.
Here is his account of the experience which transformed him. As part of a human potential workshop, he became engaged in an experiment in clairvoyance, the same one that I participated in. An unremarkable looking woman “gave me the name of a man, his age, and where he lived. I was asked to describe him using psychic powers that I had no conviction were within me. I knew nobody from Allentown… My mind doubted that there was any meaning to this exercise. I had not been educated to believe that there could be anything real about telepathy… Nevertheless, I stayed with the exercise, once again going into a deep trance. An image came up. I saw myself seeing the man…” He provides some precise details. “I knew I wasn’t guessing. I was either ‘channeling’ some truth or imagining something vivid. My female partner then broke into my reverie… She said my description fits him to a T”.
This was a turning point in his life, since he says: “I began having psychic experiences. I started communicating telepathically. I had the experience of moving out of my body and floating over cities. I healed myself with my mind. I had a near-death experience. I recalled possible former lives. I felt the presence of other-dimensional intelligence”.
He tells this story in Exploring Inner and Outer Space, subtitled A Scientist’s Perspective on Personal and Planetary Transformation. It’s worth noting that he dedicates this book, “to the Higher Power who guides us all from our inner and outer space and to all of us who are growing in awareness of our immortality and our multidimensional being”. That just goes to show how such a parapsychological experience can transform a conventional scientist.
In the next article I’ll outline the history of parapsychological research from the 1880s onwards.
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