The Crumbling Paradigm – Part Four
The Importance of Humidity
Another factor that deserves close attention in any experiment involving Psi is the level of humidity – the presence or absence of water vapour in the air. It is clear from numerous instances that the level of humidity can significantly influence the results of Psi experiments.
When American reporters Henry Gris and William Dick visited what was then the Soviet Union in 1975 to investigate Russian achievements in the field of parapsychology, they were introduced to Dr. Genady Sergeyev, who claimed to have invented a device that he called a “time machine”.
The machine was simple enough and seemed unlikely to the Americans to be the product of any esoteric technology. Dr. Sergeyev alleged that his machine was able to record electrical impulses generated by human thought. As he explained to Gris and Dick:
“By using very exact analytical methods, we have determined that a man can change the electrical conductivity of the air around him. An important part in this is played by the water vapor in the air. In laboratory experiments we have shown that the electrical field of the human brain can affect the contents of this vapor.”
Sergeyev went on to say, “Since thought is energy, the human body can transmit electrical impulses to this medium, the vapor. What happens then is that our thoughts change the structure of the molecules in the vapor, which then becomes a bank or repository of human thoughts.”
He added, “We have proven in tests that a room where there is a reasonable amount of humidity will retain human thought for up to four days in such vapor ‘banks’. A person who has been thinking intensely even for a very short time, will leave these thoughts in the vapor banks”. 1
The energy that Dr. Sergeyev attributes to thought is referred to elsewhere in Russia as “bioenergy”, which is energy that is derived in some fashion from Bios, the Greek word for life. American Thomas Bearden commented on the significance of water as a medium for bioenergy as follows:
“Water is a substance that changes its state and form in a fantastic complex and is therefore one of the very best collectors for bioenergy or tulpoidal energy. That is, in fact, why water is so universally associated with living biosystems, for biosystems need a good collective medium in which to establish tuning. So it is not accidental that water is necessary to life as we know it, or that our bodies are largely made up of water.” 2
Wilhelm Reich, the Austrian psychologist who served as an assistant to Sigmund Freud in Vienna between 1922 and 1928, coined the term “orgone” for this bioenergetic force. He noted in his writings that water had a special affinity for orgone, drawing it to itself. He was careful to monitor levels of humidity in any experiments which he conducted involving orgone energy.
The American mentalist Kreskin also mentions in passing the link between humidity and telepathy in his autobiography. “As with any human interaction, no performance is the same because no audience is the same, no mood or night the same. Rainy nights are always good, for reasons beyond my comprehension”. 3
Dr. Owen has also commented on this significance in relation to the psychokinetist Jan Merta.
“I saw him do very impressive demonstrations in conditions very adverse to working with electric charges. This was at the dowsers’ convention at Danville in early October 1970. The Vermont maple trees were in their full autumn splendor but the shine was rather taken off things by the persistent fall of heavy rain.
“The atmosphere in the room was as damp as could be and most inimical to any formation of electrical charges. However, the feather responded most decisively to Jan’s commands, which at the end of the demonstration he was giving from about thirty feet away”. 4
As in the case of Kreskin, it is likely that the presence of such a high level of water vapour in the air contributed considerably to the efficacy of Merta’s abilities.
It is worth recalling that the noted psychic healer Olga Worrall was on one occasion able to produce a moving wave pattern inside a cloud chamber. She did this by placing her hands around it as if it were a patient. She was later able to reproduce this effect at a distance of six hundred miles (965 kilometres). 5
A cloud chamber, as its name implies, is a device for creating air saturated with water vapour. The success of this unusual experiment may well have been due largely to the fortuitous choice of the cloud chamber, and to the presence of water vapour.
The Importance of Emotion
Yet another factor which parapsychological investigators should closely monitor is the level of emotion of those involved in their experiments. Commenting on the importance of emotion, Dr. Sergeyev told his American reporters:
“A person under tremendous stress, facing a crisis or suffering great fear, can increase his electrical output ten thousand times. In this way, a man can over a very brief period record the information of his entire life on a nearby object.
“By brief, I mean in a split second. If you have an object that a man has had for a long time – a favourite book, for instance – you will find that it has already been affected by his electrical impulses. It will contain the thoughts and emotional imprints of the man.” 6
Similarly, it was found that in experiments conducted by Semyon Kirlian and his wife Valentina, the corona discharge recorded via Kirlian photography on rabbits varied greatly, especially when the rabbits were frightened.
“The intensity of the emotion increased two-or-threefold at the moment of shock but there was a return to the corona’s ordinary size after several minutes. By introducing a sensor into the rabbit’s brain, an intensity of radiation ten times greater than that observed on the skin and muscles was noted.” 7
When Carl Jung visited Freud in Vienna in 1909, he happened to ask him what he thought about parapsychology in general, and precognition in particular. Freud, as we have seen, entertained only the darkest thoughts of the occult, which he referred to as a “black tide”.
He naturally dismissed Jung’s question as “nonsensical”, but did so in such an offhand manner that Jung had difficulty in checking his annoyance. Shortly thereafter, as Freud was leaving, Jung felt a curious inner sensation.
“It was as if my diaphragm were made of iron and were becoming red-hot – a glowing vault. And at that moment there was such a loud report from the bookcase which stood right next to us, that we both started up in alarm, fearing that the thing was going to topple over on us.
“I said to Freud: ‘There, that is an example of a so-called catalytic exteriorization phenomenon.’ ‘Oh come,’ he exclaimed, ‘that is sheer bosh.’ ‘It is not,’ I replied. ‘You are mistaken, Herr Professor. And to prove my point I now predict that in a moment there will be another such loud report!’ Sure enough, no sooner had I said the words than the same detonation went off in the bookcase.” 8
Psychiatrist Berthold Schwarz has also recorded cases where the presence of an intense emotion has resulted in extraordinary paranormal effects. In one example, he quoted the case of a man who had been trying to repair his fireplace prior to the arrival of an approaching blizzard. While he was engaged in this task his cantankerous elderly father insisted that he stop work there and then, and prepare his lunch instead.
“Although under pressure, the husband immediately discontinued his work, swallowed his anger, and dutifully prepared some soup, and while it was being poured from the can into a Pyrex bowl on the (unlit gas) stove, it blew up.
“I cleaned up the mess and opened another can of soup and as I was about to turn on the gas, the bowl exploded. (Minutes later) while walking with an (empty) glass coffee cup for myself, it exploded. I quit with three things in a row.”
Two weeks later, the same man was involved in another unusual incident.
“The husband, in the presence of his daughter and two adult friends, was again upset by his elderly father. The husband said: ‘I was all wound up – wild with energy and in a hurry. I reached for the (empty glass) coffee pot and before I could make coffee it disintegrated into pieces – the size of confetti.”
The wife of this man described her husband to Dr. Schwarz by saying: “He has an explosive temper and is trying not to lose it. You can feel the tension in the air.” 9
Schwarz also quoted the case of another lady named Selma who was noted for her sudden flashes of intense rage. A friend of hers related an incident that occurred when she and Selma were out driving together.
“One time we were all driving to the city and some hoodlums in a car cut in front of us. Selma said, ‘By God, they should burn.’ The next thing I knew, the guys got out of the car, covered in blue flames. The car caught fire as they leaped out.” 10
Dr. Scott Rogo recorded a case involving a Mrs. Ruth Pritchard of Denver, Colorado. Mrs. Pritchard’s son had died on October 12, 1957. On February 1, 1958, on the occasion of Ruth’s first birthday anniversary since the loss of her son, she was understandably miserable.
“As I sat there choking back the tears, I longed to see him and thought that I would give all I have just to hear him call me ‘Mom’ today.” As she and her husband were eating breakfast a short while later, the telephone rang. “I lifted the receiver and said ‘Hello?’ A young man’s voice said ‘Mom’. I stood there shaking, unable to say a word. In the silence I heard the receiver at the other end of the line click. I walked back to the table crying.” 11
A similar incident was recorded by Shirley Jonas, whose mother passed away in Alaska on Christmas Eve 1984, and who subsequently saw frosted pictures of her mother’s favourite flowers in the casement windows. Strong emotional ties are frequent denominators of paranormal occurrences.
The ingredient of emotion also turned out to be a crucial factor in an experiment conducted by members of the Toronto Society for Psychical Research. Although they were initially unsuccessful in their efforts to create a ghost by means of calm, concentrated meditation, they achieved success when they changed their method of approach.
At the suggestion of a fellow investigator, they began instead to create an atmosphere of jollity and relaxation, telling jokes and singing ribald songs. It was not long thereafter that they began to hear “raps” on the table, a phenomenon which then led to the merry saga of Philip, the passionate ghost. 12
Poltergeists
Probably the most common link between emotional states and paranormal phenomena occurs during outbreaks of what has come to be known as poltergeistery. The word “poltergeist” is derived from two terms of High German origin, poltern meaning to make noises, and geist meaning spirit or ghost.
The noises attributable to these ghostly sources vary from raps, bangs and scratches, to whistles and even imitations of a human voice. Poltergeistery is not limited to sounds, but may include a whole festival of paranormal events. Household objects may appear to move of their own volition.
These objects have also been known to vanish from their original locations under mysterious circumstances, only to reappear equally mysteriously in other places. Objects may be flung about a room, or may be directed at certain targets. Fires may break out without explanation.
These outbreaks of poltergeistery are usually temporary affairs, and although the name suggests that some discarnate agency is at work, these paranormal effects are invariably linked to people between the ages of ten and twenty who are undergoing severe emotional stress.
As parapsychologist A.R.G. Owen remarks, “In a large proportion of cases there is evidence to suggest that the poltergeist person is in a situation which prior to the poltergeist outbreak has put her in a state of emotional tension involving masked anger, fear or resentment.” 13
Although Dr. Owen refers in this statement to “her”, poltergeistery phenomena may equally well emanate from a male.
Psychiatrist Berthold Schwarz concurs with this explanation, noting that “When the usual methods of expressing feelings are acutely blocked and there is a build-up of intra and inter-psychic tension without any relief, the telekinetic pathway becomes the symbolic, goal-directed, mind-matter, final common pathway with a meaningful discharge of tensions.” 14
While poltergeistery is thus explained by the psychiatrist as the product of repressed emotional tension, this explanation carries profound implications for the physicist. For whether the manifestation of poltergeistery is attributed to the influence of an incarnate or discarnate mind, we are confronted here with irrefutable evidence of the mind’s ability to influence matter.
It can teleport objects, materialise and dematerialise them, create noises, start fires, and generally interact with matter in ways that are totally at variance with the laws of classical physics. The evidence for paranormal phenomena is, in fact, incontrovertible.
The phenomena of Psi are observables that are as legitimate as any other basic data of classical science. Although these observables are valid facts in themselves, they continue to be ignored by conventional scientists because they cannot be incorporated into a coherent scientific theory.
The verification of Psi is not simply a matter of determining whether a certain event did or did not take place. In order for a paranormal event to be accepted as a scientific fact, it has to be explained. It is this explanation, or rather the lack of it, that lies at the heart of the changing paradigm.
The Explanatory Challenge
Despite the fact that the odd events that have come to be included in the category of Psi have steadily been accumulating over the course of the last century, they continue to be rejected, because they cannot be explained within the current scientific paradigm.
Even the most ardent parapsychologist has so far been unable to explain why these events occur, and why they take the form they do. Although paranormal events have increasingly been brought within the scope of scientific methods of measurement and analysis, these observables have yet to be satisfactorily explained within the confines of a particular theory.
In other words, the observables of Psi have not yet been transformed from an undisciplined mob into an organised army. The facts of Psi still have to be explained, and until they are, there is a very large body of scientific opinion that simply refuses to acknowledge the existence or validity of any Psi observables.
The problem of explaining Psi, as Margenau and LeShan have clearly shown, lies in the very nature of the word explanation. In order for anything to be “explained”, it has to be made clear within the realm of what is already known and understood. The unknown must be revealed in terms of the known.
But if Psi phenomena could be explained within the terms of conventional science, it would not be called “paranormal”. These observables bear the stigma of the paranormal for the precise reason that they do not fit into the accepted mould of current scientific thinking.
The demand, therefore, that parapsychologists should “explain” the nature of Psi occurrences before they can be taken seriously, is thus completely without logic. For as Margenau and LeShan point out:
“If a system of reality-ordering forbids certain events from occurring you cannot explain that event within the system. Parapsychologists have tried and tried to get from here to there on the solid-appearing roads of our ordinary theory about reality, the theory of the sensory realm. It can’t be done. You cannot explain events forbidden by a system within that system.” 15
Since the classical scientific paradigm expressly forbids the sorts of things that parapsychologists have been observing, because it has separated experience into two strict categories – one of mind and the other of matter – it serves little purpose to keep on trying to validate this data within the limits of an outdated paradigm. It cannot be done.
Experience, as parapsychology now shows, is far too rich for existing scientific theory. For Psi to be effectively explained, the existing scientific paradigm must itself change. The history of science demonstrates, as Kuhn has shown, that new paradigms replace old paradigms because they are more successful in solving those problems which scientists have come to recognise as being acute.
But the new paradigm is never just an extension of existing knowledge. As Kuhn remarks, “That is why a new theory, however special its range of application, is seldom or never an increment to what is already known. Its assimilation requires the reconstruction and the re-evaluation of prior fact.” 16
It is this assimilation of prior fact into a completely new mould of thinking that marks the chief characteristic of each new scientific revolution. The true “explanation” of Psi, therefore, will not just be an extension of existing knowledge. Like all revolutions, the new paradigm will dramatically destroy old constructs, and rebuild them in a form that is completely new.
Einstein’s explanation of gravity, for example, was not simply an extension of Newton’s theory of gravitation. It totally revolutionised it, by explaining gravity, not as a force that manifested itself between material objects, but as a necessary consequence of the geometry of space-time.
Objects did not attract one another because of some inherent romance between them, they did so, argued Einstein, because the space-time continuum of which they were an integral part was curved. It was this curvature of space-time itself which made that movement necessary.
Newton’s idea of force had to be replaced by the notion of geometry. It is hardly surprising, therefore, that Einstein’s peers initially found it so difficult to absorb his revolutionary ideas.
The Coming Paradigm
The coming shift in paradigm demanded by Psi phenomena will lead to a scientific convulsion equally as great as that precipitated by Einstein. It will likewise be misunderstood and resisted by those who are committed to the old ideas. Struggle is inevitable before the new age dawns.
This new paradigm will require a bridge to be built between mind and matter, to restore the heart and soul of science that was lost in the Cartesian split. At the same time it will need to be built upon the foundations of existing science. Successful scientific paradigms do not succeed by ignoring past data. What they do is to incorporate it into a novel form, and illuminate it in a new light.
Twenty-first century physics is now inextricably bound up with the science of quantum mechanics, the study of the motions of sub-nuclear particles. The new physics, as we have seen, has already made profound discoveries that have transformed our traditional view of “reality”.
So in order to be successful, this new scientific paradigm will not only have to remain firmly rooted in the world of matter, as presently described by the science of quantum mechanics, but it will also need to embrace an entirely new realm of mind, as represented by all the known categories of Psi phenomena.
That is to say, Psi phenomena will only be successfully explained when a scientist of the stature of Einstein emerges, who can reveal Psi in the light of what has gone before. And what has gone before in physical science is essentially Einstein’s relativity theory combined with that of quantum mechanics.
No matter how brilliant a psychologist or parapsychologist may happen to be, and no matter how great his or her intuitive insight is, he or she will never be able to explain Psi to the satisfaction of scientists, unless he or she is also trained in quantum theory.
The “true” explanation of Psi will have to be revealed by a person who is grounded in quantum physics. Since the language of quantum physics is mathematics, this new explanation of Psi will have to be a mathematical explanation.
It is only when physicists are convinced of the “proof” of the relevant mathematics, that they will be willing to concede the “reality” of paranormal phenomena. So the world waits for a new Einstein who can penetrate the gloom of the paranormal with the analytical insight of the intuitive mathematician.
Concluded in Part Five
References
1 Henry Gris and William Dick, “The New Soviet Psychic Discoveries”, Warner, New York, 1979, pp. 414-415.
2 Thomas Bearden, “Excalibur Briefing”, Strawberry Hill Press, San Francisco, 1980, p. 50.
3 Kreskin, “The Amazing World of Kreskin”, Avon, New York, 1974, p. 28.
4 A. R. G. Owen, “Psychic Mysteries of the North”, Harper & Row, New York, 1975, pp. 157-158.
5 Robert Miller, “Methods of Detecting and Measuring Healing Energies”, in “Future Science”, edited by John White and Stanley Krippner, Anchor, New York, 1977, p. 432.
6 Henry Gris and William Dick, op.cit., p. 416.
7 Viktor Inyushin, “Bioplasma ” The fifth state of matter?” in “Future Science”, op.cit., p. 117.
8 Carl Jung, “Memories, Dreams, Reflections”, recorded and edited by A. Jaffe, Pantheron Books, New York, 1961, p. 155.
9 Berthold Schwarz, “UFO Dynamics”, Rainbow, Moore Haven, 1983, pp. 494-495.
10 Ibid, p. 492.
11 Scott Rogo and Raymond Bayless, “Phone Calls from the Dead”, Berkley, New York, 1980, pp. 65-66.
12 Iris Owen and Margaret Sparrow, “Conjuring up Philip”, Paperjacks, Markham, 1977.
13 A. R. G. Owen, “Psychic Mysteries of the North”, op. cit., p. 29.
14 Berthold Schwarz, “UFO Dynamics”, op.cit., p. 518.
15 Henry Margenau and Lawrence LeShan, “Einstein’s Space and Van Goch’s Sky”, Macmillan, New York, 1982, p. 214.
16 Thomas Kuhn, “The Structure of Scientific Revolutions”, University of Chicago Press, Chicago, 1970, p. 7.
