Parapsychology (Literature)

What is meant by the paranormal? Though it cannot be defined exactly, except as a group of anomalies, it is better known for what it is not. It is not normal. As a group of phenomena it is broken down as either ESP (Extra-Sensory Perception) of PK (PsychoKinesis): This breakdown represents a natural split between purely mental and physical. There are still arguments against the legitimacy of parapsychology based on an older mind/matter (religion/science) dualism, yet parapsychology itself is plagued by internal arguments whether psi is mental or physical. Once that road is traveled, we can move on and develop a physical theory, which may be necessary because of certain shortcomings in parapsychology if for no other reason. The final acceptance of psi in the scientific community will depend on a theory which can form a framework for research. Such a theory is necessary and is recognized as such, whether mentally or physically based, by most parapsychologists. Yet analogies between characteristics of psi events and modern physical phenomena demonstrate that a physical theory is what is really needed. This leads to the question “is there such an ‘animal’ as Paraphysics?” Unfortunately, very little has been done along the line of developing a real a physical theory and there may still be reasons why such a theory may be unacceptable. The physical theories presented are broken along two basic lines paralleling trends in modern physics: Quantum mechanics versus field theory. The greater trend seems to be toward an explanation along quantum mechanical lines. However, arguments for both are given. Some general characteristics of psi are mentioned, but the main emphasis will be on the relation of psi signaling to the inverse square law, physical barriers to ESP and electrical brain waves. Some of the theories dealt with in more detail are those authored by Wasserman, Marshall, Walker, Dobbs, Forwald, Carrington, Roll and Puharich, among others. Again, these are physical theories, related directly to the physical aspects of psi. Where possible, comments either pro or con relative to the different theories are discussed. And finally, I propose my own physical theory, or perhaps my first speculation on which a true physical theory will develop. My own theory is completely original, approached from a completely different angle and hopefully far more basic than the theories thus far investigated. * The original paper comprised more than one-hundred handwritten pages and was entered into a word processor nearly two decades later, so the intent was never to publish this paper. Yet it is important because it was the starting point for all of my later work in physics, the history of science and paraphysics. Although never published in its entirety, all the material in this paper eventually found its way into other published work.

Physics has long been considered the most fundamental and basic of all sciences because it represents human attempts to explain the common reality of our physical existence. No other science deals with our physical reality in either this or any similar manner. However, there are still questions about our existence that fall outside of the scope of physics, so physics cannot be said to offer a complete explanation of our total being. The most important of these questions have been anything to do with death itself.  In the scientific search for objectivity, life has been deemed separate from non-living matter in the discourses and theories of physics, so physicists would have had no reason to explain the death of living beings. Yet recent questions regarding the essential role of consciousness in physics have raised the level of theoretical inquiry to the point that scientists in the physics community can no longer ignore life and death. Furthermore, the recent discovery (or rediscovery) of ‘near death experiences’ (NDEs) has raised serious questions regarding the common reality that we experience, which essentially challenges the physics of consciousness for an explanation. The universality of the experiences is the best evidence for their validation as real events describing a portion of our physical being and this universality has allowed scientists to determine the common properties of the experiences. When accepted as real events, the NDEs imply that our normal conceptions of physical reality are both lacking and inadequate, so it is the duty of those who study physical reality, the physicists, to account for this new extension of our reality.

Beliefs happen to be the most significant indicators of a person's overall personality and provide us a window on his mental constructs. The study of the paranormal activities and phenomena has been riddled with controversy since its conception and previous researches revealed mixed and contradictory findings. The present study focuses to study correlation between Religious beliefs, paranormal beliefs and the personality factors across different religious groups, among individuals of different age groups and socioeconomic status. Significant positive correlation was found between religiosity and paranormal beliefs as well as between religiosity and the traditional religious beliefs, psi and witchcraft subscales of the paranormal beliefs scale. Results also report a negative correlation between religious beliefs and the spiritualism, extraordinary-life-forms and precognition subscales of the paranormal beliefs scale. Neuroticism was found to be the only personality factor significantly predicting paranormal beliefs. Muslims scored higher on the traditional religious beliefs subscale in comparison with the Hindus. On the other hand, among the Hindus a higher degree of endorsement of witchcraft was observed. However, so far as the Christians are concerned no significant differences were observed either on global paranormal beliefs or any of the subscales of the paranormal beliefs. Socially marginal groups were found to be more susceptible to paranormal beliefs. They scored higher on psi, witchcraft, superstition, spiritualism, precognition as well as the total-paranormal beliefs scale. Beliefs happen to be the most significant indicators of a person's overall personality and provide us a window on his mental constructs. Yet there is little agreement as to what they are; or how they should be construed. They are basic to our understanding of a wide range of central phenomena in modern psychology. Beliefs are the key components of our personalities and sense of identity, and our expression of beliefs often defines us to others. The topic of beliefs is vast and diverse. It crosses many disciplinary boundaries both within psychology and across many traditional disciplines. It has an extensive coverage ranging from traditional beliefs to 1 Department of school education Government of J&K

The Merriam-Webster dictionary defines PSI phenomena (PSIP) as: “the aggregate of parapsychological functions of the mind including extrasensory perception [telepathy, clairvoyance], precognition, and psychokinesis”. Parapsychology (which is considered pseudoscience by the majority of mainstream scientists [including academics], with articles published only in a relatively small number of niche journals) also investigates other paranormal and psychic phenomena like: near-death experiences, reincarnation, apparitional experiences and other paranormal claims. This paper brings in discussion some specific cases of PSI phenomena (which weren’t proved yet to be frauds) with possible explanations and implications in physics, biology and the theories of information and human consciousness. If proved (with no doubt) to be authentic, PSI phenomena may have huge implications in the evolution (and unification) of physics, biology and spirituality (including religious currents): this unification (built on synapse-like bridges of knowledge and informational integration) is the constant purpose of interdisciplinarity and transdisciplinarity.
#DONATIONS. Anyone can donate for dr. Dragoi’s independent research and original music at: https://www.paypal.com/donate/?hosted_button_id=AQYGGDVDR7KH2

Spontaneous combustion occurs when an object self-ignites. The cause may be chemical, as when lithium oxidises explosively in water, or biological, as when a haystack catches fire due to heat generated from bacterial fermentation. There is no scientific evidence that the human body can self-ignite. However, spontaneous human combustion (SHC) as an alleged cause of death has a long and controversial history. If true, the mechanism of ignition is mysterious and challenges what we know about the human body.....

It is a common error to equate paraphysics with parapsychology since they are entirely different, although related, disciplines. Paraphysics is concerned with natural phenomena that physics does not normally cover in its day to day business and this obviously includes the paranormal and so much more. After all, paranormal is still natural and physics studies the realm of all that is in nature and thus natural. Paraphysics is a branch of theoretical physics and should include any physical phenomena not normally sensed and conveyed to the human mind by way of our five normal senses, not necessarily material phenomena alone. This would include any possible life force that go beyond the normal bio-chemical interactions normally associated with life as well as mind and consciousness itself, at least as long as they are not just material epiphenomena. Within this context, paraphysics would include not only paranormal phenomena, but any natural phenomena dependent on the existence of higher-dimensional spaces than our normal three-dimensional material space. This book offers a comprehensive overview of the science of paraphysics including analytical arguments why it should be considered a legitimate science as well as definitions and histories of the subject. Furthermore, the book outlines the initial development of a new unification theory of physical reality that can easily explain paranormal phenomena as well as mind and consciousness.

Everyone seems to have some innate idea that there is an afterlife. Developing a mental picture of the afterlife seems quite natural to us and seems be as old as humankind, more than likely predating even the earliest development of religions. However, religions have taken the initiative in dictating our most commonly held views of the afterlife over the past few thousand years even though there is no hard and fast rule stating that only religions have the right to develop views of the afterlife to the exclusion of all other forms of human knowledge. In fact, a concept of the afterlife is more fundamental to religions as a whole than belief in a Supreme Being, God or gods. Some of religion’s grasp on concepts of the afterlife have recently slipped as moviemakers have taken the initiative in representing how we picture the afterlife. On the other hand, science has been conspicuously absent from this whole process even though science has developed more and more complex paradigms about life, mind and consciousness, just those concepts which would seem important with regard to any possible afterlife. The very silence of science on this issue is simply deafening. However, the present lack of scientific worldviews that include some form of an afterlife will soon change as science takes a greater interest in the concept of consciousness and develops working theories to explain consciousness. Only then will science begin to consider the possibility that consciousness, at the very least, could survive death of the body and brain and only then will science consider the possibility that the afterlife is another part of our physical reality requiring explanation.

In cases when mysterious phenomena jar our understandings of the material world, the experts in paranormal research can provide astonishing explanations. A parapsychologist and paranormal investigator, the author of this volume plumbs 25 years of experience to create a personal and captivating account of events both common and uncommon to the field of paranormal research. Anecdotes and studies in this volume run the gamut from encounters with intelligent entities and imprints of past events to peculiar moving objects to those events that may seem paranormal but actually have common explanations. Major research centers and related resources are discussed, and advice is given on how to judge the credibility of self-professed ghost hunters.

Rezension zweier Werke, die sich mit Albert Frh. v. Schrenck-Notzing auseinandersetzen:
* Manfred Dierks
Thomas Manns Geisterbaron. Leben und Werk des Freiherrn Albert von Schrenck-Notzing
UND
* Timon L. Kuff
Okkulte Ästhetik. Wunschfiguren des Unbewussten im Werk von Albert von Schrenck-Notzing

The Jewish enlightenment (the Haskalah movement) in Eastern Europe in the first half of the nineteenth century is best known for its negative relationship to Hasidism and for its intellectual tendencies. Against this background various angry missives were written, deprecating this growing mystical movement which was rising in popularity, as well as various satires aimed at its followers and leaders. In order to thwart the new movement, the Maskilim sought to define Hasidism as an errant sect, not only in relation to

Given the present paradigms and attitudes that influence the continuing development of science, the undisputed recognition of paranormal phenomena seems no more than a "pipe dream" even though today's scientific establishment is more liberal than ever before. However, a 'pipe dream' does not represent a scientific impossibility. There now seems to be ample experimental evidence for precognition, telepathy, micro-psychokinesis and other forms of the paranormal, but paranormal phenomena will never be recognized as undisputed as long as this evidence flies in the face of our commonly accepted scientific theories and concepts of physical reality. So the key element necessary for the complete recognition of paranormal phenomena must be a theory that allows, and perhaps even requires, the reality of what we now regard the paranormal. This is an unpublished essay. As far as I know, the final entry date of the contest was extended twice and no winner was ever announced.