Holistic physician and author, Larry Dossey

Holistic physician and author, Larry Dossey will discuss his latest work in non-locality, and how simple practices can deliver powerful messages to the body about well being - on Coast2Coast radio this coming Wednesday, 3/28/07.

website: http://dosseydossey.com

Most recent book: The Extraordinary Healing Power of Ordinary Things.

March 23rd: Rhine Conference

March 23rd: Rhine Conference
Rhine Research Center Conference
March 23rd - 25th in Myrtle Beach, SC

The Rhine Research Center is hosting a conference in Myrtle Beach this weekend. The conference, “Consciousness Today: Where Scientists and Psychics meet!” is being held at the Holiday Inn on the Waterway.

Joe McMoneagle will be giving the opening keynote speech on Friday night following dinner from 7:15 - 8:45. Other keynote addresses over the weekend are being given by Dr. Sally Rhine Feather at the banquet dinner, and the closing speaker will be Joseph Chilton Pearce.

Lab has conducted fascinating research on the paranormal

Now here's a fellow who can speak without his tongue in his cheek:

Lab has conducted fascinating research on the paranormal
by Watson Sims
published March 13, 2007 12:15 am

Jahn’s personal history is as interesting as the subjects he has studied. A deeply respected scientist and expert in jet propulsion, he was dean of Princeton University’s engineering school when, as another of the school’s faculty later told me, he “went off the deep end.”

The deep end into which Jahn dived contained riddles that have intrigued man throughout history. Can messages be transmitted by mind alone? Can faith really move mountains? Can dancing Indians induce rain to fall?

Such questions tend to make scientists nervous, and Princeton University has in general chose to ignore, rather than support, PEAR.

Interview with Dr. Charles Tart

Join host Alex Tsakiris when he interviews renowned psychology researcher and author, Dr. Charles Tart about his experiences with the “science of parapsychology”.

Download the interview

Spiritual Growth Withstands Everyday Stress
2007-03-14

Guest: Dr. Charles Tart explores his research findings and personal conclusions about spirituality, meditation and transpersonal psychology: “I think we need to have deep spiritual values, and they need to come out of experiences that really teach us at a deep level. They can’t come by somebody preaching at us and telling us how we should feel and so forth. We need a spirituality in our culture that taps into what is real, and taps-in in a deep way, so it will stand up to the stress of everyday life.”

Parapsychologist Rhea White - an exceptional human being

Rhea White has died and moved on into the adventure of adventures.

She ``. . . was known worldwide,'' said Jean Spagnolo, a friend of White's for 55 years. ``In the world of parapsychology, she's famous.'' ~ from Carl MacGowan's account of Rhea's activities.

On Rhea's website Exceptional Human Experience Network you can find comments from her friends.

An ESP Gap - Then and Now

Has the general citizenry of this country evolved to a new [educated] level of comprehension in regard to the sciences? Some think so. If so, it would appear that serious deficits in comprehending the ways of propaganda remain. Big Pharma, through it's intensive multi-million dollar advertising campaigns, determines both what the man-on-the-street will believe is beneficial, as well as what the doctors will prescribe. In a similar vein, the well-funded Skeptic Campaign is driving the response of the general public through control of how the media approaches the subject of ESP.

~ Shelia

An ESP Gap -- Then and Now:

THEN: An E.S.P. Gap - 1984 article

NOW: The E.S.P. Gap [March 1, 2007] By John Tierney

And a response from Paul H. Smith: Skepticism’s Victory Over Science

How Scepticism Blocks Progress

How Scepticism Blocks Progress: Cuvier and Spallanzani
by Guy Lyon Playfair

"In 1794 the eminent Italian physiologist Lazzaro Spallanzani (1729-99), one of the founders of experimental biology, published a modest but heretical proposal. Long intrigued by the ability of bats to fly in total darkness without bumping into things, he set out to discover how they did it."

Although Spallanzani's research determined bats navigated through the sense of hearing, his discovery was not accepted, and did not surface again until the 20th century.

Parapsychology and the Paranormal

What follows is a lengthy discussion of science vs. parapsychology:

Parapsychology and the Paranormal
Sam Vaknin, Ph.D. - 3/1/2007

I. Introduction.

The words "supernatural", "paranormal", and "parapsychology" are prime examples of oxymorons. Nature, by its extended definition, is all-inclusive and all-pervasive. Nothing is outside its orbit and everything that is logically and physically possible is within its purview. If something exists and occurs then, ipso facto, it is normal (or abnormal, but never para or "beyond" the normal). Psychology is the science of human cognition, emotion, and behavior. No human phenomenon evades its remit.

As if in belated recognition of this truism, PEAR (the Princeton Engineering Anomalies Research laboratory), the ESP (Extra-Sensory Perception) research outfit at Princeton University, established in 1979, closed down in February 2007.

article continues here

Settle for More

Thursday, March 1, 2007: Paul H. Smith will be on the Settle for More Internet radio program, hosted by Dr. Tom and Bobbie Merrill. It starts at 11:00am Pacific time (2:00pm EST).

Marilyn Schlitz: Consciousness and Healing

News Released: February 28, 2007
(PRLEAP.COM) Join host Alex Tsakiris when he interviews research scientist and Vice President of Research at the Institute of Noetic Sciences, Dr. Marilyn Schlitz about her journey as a researcher in parapsychology, complementary medicine and anthropology.

During the hour-long interview Schlitz distinguishes between her beliefs and those within the controversial areas she winds up studying: “I don’t necessarily believe all the things that I study. I believe anything that’s an aspect of human experience is valid to study, and there are some areas that have greater potential for breakthrough.”

She also explains how controversial science research remains a taboo subject with many of her peers: “Where people really get animated is in the unofficial domains of after-hours. Either they admit to having some kind of experience they don’t want to admit to publicly, or they just get irrational. I’ve had people spitting in my face because they were so angry with the idea that we could do science on parapsychology.”

The interview is available for immediate free download at: http://www.skeptiko.com/index.php?id=11

Dr. Marilyn Schlitz is the author of Consciousness and Healing: Integral Approaches to Mind-Body Medicine (2004).

About Skeptiko

Skpetiko is the first scientifically oriented Podcast exploring new research in controversial areas of science such as telepathy, psi, parapsychology, near-death-experience, reincarnation, and after-life encounters. Each episode features open, honest debate on new scientific discoveries. The show includes interviews with top research scientists and their critics.

They Think They Know

Paul H. Smith thoughtfully addresses Britain's Ministry of Defense remote viewing research:

A few days ago when I first read the newspaper reports revealing that Britain’s Ministry of Defense (MoD) had researched psychic skills, I started scribbling down a table-thumping rant about how wrong-headed the research had been – not because it had been done at all (which I otherwise applaud) but because of how poorly-conceived it had been, at least according to the newspapers. Before I published my rant far and wide, someone fortunately pointed me to the actual 168-page declassified report, where I could read a more detailed account of what the MoD had actually done. I discovered that the news stories were embarrassingly oversimplified and incomplete, and that the research was not as ill-advised as reporters had claimed. It was still flawed, which I discuss below – but the whole affair amounts to the latest example of society’s self-perpetuating ignorance of the nature of “psychic phenomena” in general and remote viewing in particular.

Click here to read the 6 page article [pdf format - 1.3 M]

Paul H. Smith is President of the International Remote Viewing Association, President of Remote Viewing Instructional Services, Inc., and one of only a handful of government personnel to be personally trained as coordinate remote viewers by Ingo Swann at SRI-International.

How NOT to conduct a remote viewing study

This study by a UK government agency is an incredible example of incompetent research.

As Angela Thompson-Smith, a member of the International Remote Viewing Association commented,
"This would have had the same results if they were studying math or musical ability. Say, for example they contacted a group of master musicians for a study but they refused to participate. Then the study took people "off the street" to test them for musical ability and found average results.Then concluded that there were no master musicians and no musical ability to be found. What a flawed study." [Permission to quote granted]

From an article describing the study: 'Defence experts tried to recruit 12 psychics who advertised their abilities on the internet, but when they refused they were forced to use "novice" volunteers. Commercial researchers were contracted at a cost of £18,000 to test if psychic ability existed, according to a classified report released under the Freedom of Information Act.'

Conclusions reached by The MoD?
'. . .the study had concluded there was "little value" in using "remote viewing" in the defence of the nation.'
[I detect reflections of US media's use of the AIR report to dismiss 20 years of research.]

Those were the 'conclusions' widely reported in the press and internet media. However, a read of the original documents indicates that the MoD may pursue further experiments. We should encourage them to contact the most accomplished people and to get it right this time.

Comments from around the web:

From Michael Prescott:

I'm sure the British government will be ridiculed for this, but personally I'm glad they were open-minded enough to give it a shot.

From inkycircus.com:

Now, I'm not a total sceptic about the strange and unusual powers of the brain, I'm glad the stuffy MoD has an open mind, and I generally approve of finding alternative methods of defending Queen and country rather than starting wars all over the shop, but I'm pretty sure that celebrity 'psychics' aren't exactly the ideal alternative.

From strangeattractor.co.uk

It’s hard to believe that there haven’t been other RV projects here in the past and I’ve certainly met psychics who have told me that they’d done government work back in the ’80s. Let’s see if this confessional mood leads to any more such admissions.

In it's typical manner of misrepresentation, Skeptico does itself justice, while doing injustice to the truth: They never heard of Stargate?

Have they never heard of Project Stargate – the US government’s failed attempt from the 1970s through 1995 to look for exactly the same thing? They spent $20 million before they realized it doesn’t work and gave up. (At least the UK government only wasted $35K.)

[Read the AIR report articles to understand the politics and flawed methods used to shut down a program that managed to survive yearly reviews and maintain it's funding - why? because it was not a failed program]

The PsiTech organization supposedly purchased the “technology” from the US government, and are having a similar consistent lack of success in being able to remote-view anything correctly.
[PsiTech purchased nothing from the US government - Dames walked away with a copy of the CRV manual generated by the team of military remote viewers trained by Ingo Swann.]

As Randi knows, as soon as you want to test any “psychic” to see if they really can do what they say, they run for the hills. They must hate freedom.
[For a closer look at James Randi ]

And the all too familiar and classic argument:
Of course, if remote viewing really worked, we’d have captured bin Laden years ago.
[An often-used flawed assumption implying a government agency with the desire to capture bin Laden affiliated with accomplished remote viewers. In other words, it takes a chain of command from the RV session to take the results and test it against ground truth.]

~ Shelia

Truth or coincidences?

Truth or coincidences? Kristal Brent Zook, associate adjunct professor in the Graduate School of Journalism at Columbia University, wrote an editorial that restored my perspective of thinking people to one of good cheer.

Following the announced closing of the PEAR lab the number of negatively slanted, some bordering on vindictive, articles about PEAR's 28 years of research, took me by surprise. I had actually begun to think the lid was off the box, the genie sprung from his eternal prison, and that progress might be made in leaps and bounds during the coming decade. The media wave greeting PEAR's demise said otherwise. However, today I discovered one thoughtful person with the courage to consider more than official 'opinion' doled out by AP to institutionalized media clones. And this makes all the difference.

Truth or coincidences?

Tiny URL: http://tinyurl.com/3xxmhu]

Good reading! Shelia

Something Innocent passes by

Can I tell you something? Did you know how many squiggles I have in my brain? Infinity power - they never end. ~ Baillie, age 6

Something Evil Passes By

Friday night on Coast2Coast radio physicist Brooks Agnew shared details about his upcoming expedition to the North Pole, where he hopes to learn whether or not the Earth is hollow. During the discussion he noted that Ed Dames and team had done some remote viewing sessions for him and reported that he should avoid a certain segment of the North Pole as "there is something evil" there. Classic Dr. Doom stuff.

This morning I received a mass email advert re: the Horizon Project: "Newly compiled overwhelming scientific evidence all over our planet and documented throughout history shows that the world as we know it is about to come to an unexpected end."

Not to be outdone, I believe it is now time to add my own warning: do not go to New York, Chicago, Las Vegas, San Francisco, Tokyo, London, Madrid, etc., etc. because there's something evil there. In fact avoid all contact with populated cities exceeding 12 persons - preferably persons that you've known since childhood and only associate with them if you are certain they haven't been contaminated by demon possession since your last contact. Or better still, move to a cave in a remote country, and see or talk to no one - you'll be spared knowledge of the inevitable end.

I understand that we are in the midst of environmental, social, and astronomic changes that may result in dire consequences on a planetary scale and yes, surely "the world as we know it" will change significantly. Of that I can be certain - I am old enough to know how we've evolved from simple black and white television, the corner movie theatre, and moon walks to a cell phone in every ear, the global internet, communication satellites on every corner of earth's orbit, and Mars orbits. I expect the next 10 years will bring many unexpected changes -- like cleaner air and water, changes in how we produce and utilize fuel, and social upheavels that swing back toward local controls vs. global controls.

Many changes are headed our way - but the much advertised "unexpected end" part is just not showing up in my premonition monitor, remote viewing, or dream landscape.

~ Shelia

Amazing enhanced human perception abilities are emerging, say researchers

Steve Hammons article - February 8, 2007, lists some of the 'perks' of the emerging awareness in many segments of society about what is sometimes called “anomalous cognition”.

These include, but are not limited to:
- Enhanced intuition and instincts
- Increased awareness of one’s surroundings and environment
- Improved insight into challenges and solutions
- Acquisition of information and understanding about remote situations

Telepathy and Lost Treasure

Can parapsychology help explore oceans and discover lost treasures? According to Ed May in a brief article at Newindpress.com the answer is ‘Yes’, telepathy can pave the way. While the article uses the terms telepathy and ESP, it would appear that Ed did manage to have his favorite term, 'anomalous cognition', inserted into the piece.

I am reminded of a question oft asked of persons involved in psi and remote viewing: What good is it? What can I do with it?

During the next few months let's explore those questions and count how many applications we can find that are actually BEING used. I would suggest that the applications of remote viewing are limited only by your own creativity box.

~ Shelia

Psychics, Detectives, and Cons: A cautionary tale

It is often difficult to tell who's who as demonstrated by the case of Helen Duncan, the last person to be prosecuted for witchcraft in Britain. Oddly enough it may have been her authenticity, her accuracy, and her connection to intelligence personnel during wartime that landed her in prison.

With the likes of Harry Price, "the Psychic Detective", giving 'evidence' against her at her trial, Helen was prosecuted and sentenced to 9 months in prison. With financial backing from judges and notable scientists of the time, Price founded an institute devoted to psychic research (National Laboratory of Psychical Research.)

These many years later, evidence reveals that Price was the conman and Helen the authentic psychic. An interesting read on Harry Price and his papers has surfaced - Detective work on psychic conman - as the granddaughter of Helen Duncan attempts to secure a posthumous pardon.

Reading these materials may give anyone with an applied interest in psi cause to reflect and ask, "Hmm, how far have we come?" Polls reveal that the average fellow on the street has a high degree of confidence that psi exists. However, mainstream media and governmental forces continue to reflect the 'view from above' that would put the thumbs down on such developments. Take note of the current UK government's campaign: Scams Awareness Month . Please note, that I am quite aware that there are indeed many scams out there involving persons promoting psi in one form or another. However, this type of govermental promotional tends to set a tone that bleeds over into legitimate work.

As part of its Scams Awareness Month, the OFT is warning consumers not to fall for bogus clairvoyant mailings sent out to thousands of people in the UK every year. Letters from so called psychics or clairvoyants offer predictions or promise healing properties for a small fee. Often these mailings are aggressive in tone, predicting that something bad will happen if the recipient does not send them money. Although they are sent out in their thousands, the mailings are personalised to make recipients look as if they have been specially chosen and those who respond can be repeatedly targeted.

Spies, Lies, and Polygraph Tape?

One day you post an item with a comment that promotes out of the box thinking, and the next day you run smack up against the wall of your own box. This one stretches my sensibilities - and yet, I'll want to follow the story and see where it leads. ~ Shelia

---------------------------------------------

Spies, Lies, and Polygraph Tape?

Gary S. Bekkum

February 5, 2007

"You have no legal recourse. I am interpreting your threat to the Official of the Director of National Intelligence as potentially outside the legal framework, and I will advise the FBI and your supervisor to take appropriate actions."

The highest levels of the intelligence community are entangled in a snare of lies surrounding the "core story": A tale of contact with an intelligence not of this world.

Starstream Research investigates. The first in a series.

http://www.americanchronicle.com/articles/viewArticle.asp?articleID=20271

The 4th Annual Alexander Imich Lecture

The Mindshift Institute Presents


The 4th Annual Alexander Imich Lecture
Quantum Science and Intuition
What New Scientific Studies Are Revealing
About Consciousness


with
Paul Bernstein, PhD
February 28, 2007

7 p.m.
The Pratt Mansions
Marymount School
1026 Fifth Avenue
84th Street and 5th Avenue

Paul Bernstein, Ph.D. will bring us up-to-date about what leading scientists have learned about Intuition from laboratory experiments examining common forms of intuition, such as "remote viewing," "precognition," and "telepathy. " He will discuss the advances in quantum physics that indicate how such transmissions of information can occur without the involvement of our physical senses.

Dr. Bernstein will also share with us his findings, and those of other scientists, concerning the survival of consciousness after death, as revealed by studies primarily in three areas: the near-death experience, reincarnation, and mediumship.

Finally, he will invite the audience to engage in a discussion that connects these two sets of scientific findings, which so strongly imply that our human consciousness has some significant independence from our physical bodies.

Admission $20
To register, call 212-721-6785