Mind Over Matter I: Psychic Powers
(This is an excerpt from a University Of Metaphysical Sciences course at www.umsonline.org,
please feel free to visit the school website)
Scientists of the British Society for Psychical Research, led by J.B.. Rhine, long ago established the reality of Extra-Sensory Perception (ESP). In Alternate Realities (1976) we read that the researchers “spent decades in tightening their experimental designs” and found that “The evidence was completely solid that ESP did happen.” What, exactly, is ESP? The Encyclopedia Of Parapsychology And Psychical Research (1991) describes ESP as a “general term” that includes clairvoyance, telepathy, and precognition, all of which are “modes of obtaining information about an event, object, or situation outside oneself without the use of any of the known sensory processes.” Let’s go over each of the three branches of ESP in turn.
Clairvoyance, a French word that means “clear-seeing,” is defined in The Encyclopedia Of Parapsychology And Psychical Research (1991) as “the faculty of getting information about physical objects or distant events of which no one else is aware. Psychics with clairvoyant powers might be able to perceive auras, converse with angels and fairies, or view happenings in faraway places by means of a crystal ball, just to name a few possibilities. Akin to this power is the faculty of clairaudience, which The Encyclopedia Of Parapsychology And Psychical Research (1991) defines as “the paranormal hearing of sounds or voices, generally internal ones, through which information is sometimes obtained.” The legendary “daemon” who told Socrates not to do certain things would be called a case of clairaudience in modern terms.
Telepathy, also called “mind reading,” “thought reading,” “mental telegraphy,” and “thought transference,” is defined in The Encyclopedia Of Parapsychology And Psychical Research (1991) as “the communication of impressions of any kind from one mind to another independently of the recognized channels of sense.” Flashes of intuition concerning a close friend or relative can be classed as cases of telepathy when the other person later confirms the “impression.” Telepathic communication might also be possible between the living and the dead. Ancient sorcerers used the term “necromancy” to describe this phenomenon.
Psychometry, also called “object reading,” seems to combine elements of telepathy and clairvoyance. The Encyclopedia Of Parapsychology And Psychical Research (1991) describes psychometry as the act of “using extrasensory perception of a physical object to gain information about events or people once associated with it.” Such “information” might be impressed upon an object by the minds of those who once possessed it, and these “impressions” can later be read by means of psychometry. Telepathy would seem to be the form of ESP used in this case of object reading. However, it might be that an object receives impressions even in the absence of minds. In this case, clairvoyance would be needed to read all of the information contained in an object.
The term “remote viewing” may refer either to clairvoyance or to telepathy, and can also sometimes indicate the phenomenon known as “out-of-body experience.” Remote viewing does not carry the technical implications of these other terms, and can thus be used to denote visual experiences which cannot be strictly classified as one kind of psychic phenomena or another.
The power of precognition allows someone to have information about things that have not yet come to pass. Theological researcher Rhea A. White has documented the fascinating connection between precognitive powers and saints or “holy people.” Apparently, the ability to prophecy future events has a direct link with the ephemeral quality of holiness, or divine favor. This might explain why historical prophets like Joan of Arc had such deep religious convictions. The Encyclopedia Of Parapsychology And Psychical Research (1991) defines precognition as “the prediction or knowledge of random future events” excluding “the possibility of interference from present evidence.” By this definition, prophecies based on astrological calculations, like those of Michel Nostradamus, cannot be considered cases of precognition since they relied upon “present evidence” from the stars. Precognition can, however, take the form of a sixth sense that warns the psychic of immediate danger or immanent events. Cabalists who develop the ability to read signs of impending events by means of number encryption may be using a form of precognition. However, this too might be considered cheating, and the use of visible signs would force this skill into the category of clairvoyance, telepathy, or mere magick. Do prophecies received from ultraterrestrials or monsters like Mothman indicate the existence of precognition? What do you think?
The strangest and most disturbing of all psychic powers might be psychokinesis, or PK. The expression “mind over matter” derives mostly from this power, since PK apparently gives people the ability to move physical objects using nothing but their minds. Psychokinesis is defined in The Encyclopedia Of Parapsychology And Psychical Research (1991) as “the direct influence of the mind on an external object without the intermediation of any known physical energy.” This power has long been associated with poltergeist phenomena, and investigators like J.B. Rhine, Carrol B. Nash, and George W. Fisk have documented many cases of PK and poltergeists in the 20th century. Poltergeists and their powers will be discussed in the following section.
Modern science seems to have accepted the reality of ESP, but the philosophical implications of psychic powers have not yet sunk in to the general consciousness. Most people still seem stuck in the mechanistic view of the universe`envisioned by scientists of the 18th and 19th centuries. Author Lawrence LeShan, in his book Alternate Realities (1976), writes, “The person who denies the possibility of ESP on scientific grounds is, indeed, expressing the point of view of the best scientific thought of 1875.” Starting in the early 20th century, a new branch of physics called “quantum theory” made discoveries that seem to support the existence of psychic abilities. In his book The Illuminati Papers (1997), author Robert Anton Wilson claims to have found “a single scientific explanation for all the weird events that parapsychologists have classified under such conflicting labels as ESP, direct brain perception, clairvoyance, distant viewing, psychokinesis, out of body experience, and cosmic consciousness (Illumination).” Wilson goes on to write that “all such mystical brain functions are aspects of one phenomenon: a subatomic but universal intelligence system that receives, integrates, and transmits information at a level much deeper than the sensory appearances of what we call space, time, and separateness.”
The details of quantum theory can’t be gone into in too much detail here, but even Einstein had to admit that we would need to have a “hidden variable” in order to explain the odd behavior of subatomic particles. This hidden variable implies a “subquantal level” below the observed behavior of the subatomic particles that quantum theory seeks to describe but cannot quite predict. This inability to deduce causes from effects in quantum mechanics is called the “collapse of the state vector,” and elaborate theories have been constructed to explain this breakdown in the ability of science to know what will happen next. All of these theories seem to imply that, at the subquantal level, no distinction can be made between the observer and what is being observed. Therefore, space and time do not really exist except from our sensory point of view. Reality is nothing but a construct of our mammalian sense organs, an arbitrary division of phenomena into “inside” and “outside” that allows us to experience a “material world” that has no objective existence, but is in fact subject to control by the individual consciousness. This “hidden variable theory of consciousness,” the idea that “our consciousness controls physical events through the laws of quantum mechanics,” explains the existence of PK and other psychic powers. However, it also leads unfortunately to the overly simplistic idea that “you create your own reality,” and leaves out the influence that one conscious mind can exert over other, weaker minds. As Einstein said, “God does not play dice with the universe.” If mind creates reality, then the greatest Minds have the most power over that Creation.
In spite of the fact that materialist methods have been successfully applied to parapsychology, this science does not seem to occupy the forefront of scientific research. Why don’t more corporations and governments fund the study and development of psychic powers? Why aren’t more books published on these subjects with up to date research rather than just encyclopedias that rehash what we already know from other sources? Maybe the proponents of materialism do not want us to discover the flaws in their paradigm. As The Encyclopedia Of Parapsychology And Psychical Research (1991) points out, “Dualism long ago was toppled in favor of a materialist view that mind is a function of processes of the brain and totally dependent on it. But the occurrence of paranormal events that seem to resist and baffle physical explanations may point to the existence of a nonphysical mental component interacting with, yet autonomous of, the brain and which, at certain times, has the ability to influence physical objects or become aware of other minds whose physical bodies may be either living or dead. Such events, if they in fact occur, collide with materialism and the impact could restore mind-body dualism to the attention of thinkers.” If mind has power over matter, then it follows that a mental world could exist independently of the material world. Such an idea would help to explain many of the phenomena explored in the pages that follow.