Research

I’ve recently published my review of a documentary called “Something Unknown is doing we don’t know what”. The film researches the evidence behind the “Big Five” psi phenomena and I liked it greatly. Take a peek at my review for some more info. Today I’m glad to present you my interview with Renée Scheltema, the filmmaker and producer of Something Unknown (link to my review of the movie). Despite this being my 15th interview that I publish here on the site, this is the first one that I did live, using Skype. Please excuse our accents and non-professionalism. Also, I’d like to remind you that Renée and I opened a forum to discuss "Something Unknown" and its topics. Renée is going to be there as well to discuss it with you. In fact, she had already posted a short welcome message there. So come over and join us at forum.mind-energy.net. It’s right near the Skeptiko podcast forum, which you should also participate in, in my opinion. We had a very conversational tone with Renée and the interview starts right in the middle of a sentence.

You can read the redacted transcript below or listen to the audio using the player below or download the MP3 directly.

Renée Sceltema: …I hear what you’re saying because Professor Tart, he told me there’s actually – you could call it the “Big Seven.” But then there are two in the “maybe” category. And one is mediums, you know, talking to dead people which – that’s scientifically you can’t prove that. I investigated it but somehow there’s a reasoning that goes in circles. So I didn’t complete it. And then the other in the “maybe” category is near-death experiences.

Jacob: I actually wanted to ask you about these, as well.

Renée Sceltema: I researched it a little bit and then because Professor Tart said it’s in the “maybe” category I decided not to include these – the film was already very full as it was with information. Couldn’t get that in, as well.

Jacob: I see. Could you tell us a bit more about yourself and why you decided to make this film?

Renée Sceltema: Okay, that’s in the film. I had those psychic experiences and I wanted to know whether I was deluding myself. I sort of knew that parapsychologists were doing research on this kind of stuff, but I hadn’t kept up. I’m not a “woo-woo” kind of person who believes all this stuff. Actually I don’t believe a lot of it.

But on the other hand, the first experience with my father was very strong. I guess in scientific terms you call it “crisis telepathy.” It happened when I was studying at the University of California, Berkeley, during the day. I would call my parents every three months. I had just phoned my parents a few days before. While I was with my nose in the books, there was this strong force that told me that I had to get up and phone them again. I remember walking down the street thinking: ‘This is weird. Why am I walking to the phone booth? There’s no reason for this. It’s the wrong time of the day.’

Then when I phoned, my brother picked up the phone, which is very unusual because he had left home and would never even pick up the phone. Then he told me my father had had a stroke and was fighting for his life at the intensive care. So that seared into my mind because I just picked up something there that was real and I guess it’s part of our survival instinct, no?

In Christianity, all these psychic experiences they call it “from the Devil” and it’s not been too long since they burned witches. And so according to this belief system all these psychic things are all thrown into one corner together with the witches and the weird soothsayers.

Long before that time, when we were living as Bushmen or Aboriginals, there would always be the Shaman who was capable of reaching beyond our minds; capable of doing these kinds of things. For them it was normal. So it’s only been in the past couple of centuries that psychic experiences have been suppressed.

I read a book long ago about Mutant Message Down Under, a beautiful book about an American woman who lives with the Aboriginals. She notes down what they experienced. They could heal; see remote view kangaroos, etc, just because it was just the only way to go.

So I guess it’s part of our survival instinct. So I didn’t regard it as abnormal when I had this experience with my sick father. I just thought, ‘Yeah, that makes a lot of sense.’

Also I guess, I’m at a certain age where I felt confident enough to tackle this kind of subject. I don’t think I would dare to make this film 25 years ago.

Jacob: Okay, it is also written there that you started to work on the film about 10 years ago. Why did it take so long?

Recently I have had the pleasure of seeing the DVD of a new movie called Something Unknown is doing we don’t know what…. This is an indie documentary filmed by Renée Scheltema that explores the science behind psychic phenomena. The award-winning movie, which was released in late 2009, is the best documentary that I’ve seen to date on this subject. Stay with me for a more detailed review of the film.

There are several things to like about Something Unknown, if you’re serious about learning more about ESP and psychic phenomena. First, the movie mostly focuses on interviewing and showing the work of the leading scientists in parapsychology, such as Dr. Dean Radin (Chief scientist of the Institute of Noetic Sciences, showing presentiment experiment), Dr. Rupert Sheldrake (biologist, talks about telepathic dogs, and telephony telepathy) and Professor Charles Tart, who guided Renée through the film and many more. Other names include Professor Gary Schwartz, Dr. Roger Nelson, Dr. Hall Puthoff, Dr. Edgar Mitchell, Dr. David Dosa and more. In short, the “casting” couldn’t be better.

Secondly, it shows these scientists in their homes or working environments, which is much more interesting than seeing them talking in “sterile” studios, which is what other movies that I’ve seen do. This adds an additional personal dimension to the experience of watching it.

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It took Renée almost 10 years to shoot and edit this film, funding it from her own money, which says a lot about her determination and serious approach to this endeavor. She decided to go on this journey after having a couple of unexplainable experiences herself. I liked the movie so much that I asked Renée to let me interview her for Mind-Energy. I’m glad to tell that I’ve recorded the interview and will post it in a couple of days. So stay tuned.

What else is in the film? She met with Dr. Jack Houck, the organizer of PK parties and she also accompanied him to one of them. These are the famous PK parties which he holds in the US, where people bend spoons. Spoon bending is a thread throughout the film, being used to connect the various parts of it, although it’s not a scientific subject by itself.

There’s footage from Brazil of psychic surgeries, there are shots from other healing events and places. You see introductions about such projects such as Global Consciousness Project and Remote Viewing from the first hands, from the scientists themselves.

The film is 105 minutes long and is available on DVD in NTSC and PAL format. You can learn more about the film and purchase it on its official site.

With collaboration with Renée we've added a dedicated discussion forum for Something Unknown and its topics at Mind-Energy forums. Please join us in discussing it with Renée and other viewers.

The following article was sent to me by Buryl Payne in early 2009 but somehow I’ve only now got to publish it. I’m also putting the original PDF file that he sent me, which is better formatted. Buryl seems to be heavily into research of Biofield or what he calls “Spin Force”. The article discusses one of his experiments with remote healing.

Remote Healing Measured by the Biofield Meter

Buryl Payne, Ph. D. Psychology, Psychophysics Laboratories, P.O. Box 514, Soquel, CA. 95073

Abstract

A force around the human body different from electric, magnetic, gravitic, photic, or thermal has previously been discovered and was used in this research. Originally called a ‘biofield’ and now called a ‘spin force’, it was found to vary in amplitude with lunar phase, solar activity, vitality of the subject and other factors. It was found to vary in amplitude with intended remote healing attempts. In 17 out of 20 trials in this pilot study, with healers from 50 to 3,000 miles distant, a clear change in amplitude of the spin force was observed. Keywords: remote healing, subtle magnetism, biofield, spin force.

Introduction

It is known by experience that prayer and other means of visualization at a distance enhance healing, although no satisfactory explanation has been found to explain this effect. This study shows the operation of a different type of force may be involved. Called a spin force, torque, or rotational force, it is hypothesized to exist around all living organisms.

Biological spin force was accidentally discovered by the author while investigating ‘pyramid energy’ in 1976. The author’s device, called a Biofield Meter, displays a spin force when placed around an organism. It was found to exist around every human tested, a couple of plants, a grapefruit, watermelon, cat, dog and horse. Presumably it exists around all living organisms and its existence has been observed by other researchers. The amplitude of rotation of the Biofield Meter varies with solar and geomagnetic activity, changes direction temporarily at times of new and full moon and varies to some degree with the health of the subject.

Several researchers have observed some physiological changes in humans as a response to remote healing. Ron Hruby, a retired NASA electrical engineer, made his own version of the Biofield Meter and hypothesized that it might respond to distant healing attempts on a subject. He found this to be the case. In 18 trials with four subjects, he found 100% correlation of changes of the Biofield Meter amplitude of rotation with attempted healings by a small group ten miles distant from the subject. This study expands upon the work of Ron Hruby, and attempts to verify his results while using variable distances between the healers and the subjects.

Materials and Methods The Biofield Meter consists of a square frame, made of 0.25 inch diameter wood dowels, 16 in. on each side. Six ring magnets are centered on each dowel and 16 in. long strings are attached in the center of the six magnets on each dowel. The strings angle to a center where a set of two mirrors of 1.5 inch diameter are glued back to back. A hook and additional string is used to hang the apparatus over the subject’s head at eye level. The device looks roughly like a pyramid frame.

In practice, the Biofield Meter rotates a few degrees after being placed over a subject. Given an initial impulse, and because it is a string suspension, the torque on the string, or winding force, limits continuous rotational movement. It winds up and unwinds, in other words, oscillating back and forth for a few minutes. The number of degrees of initial rotation was used as a measure of spin force around the body.

This experiment was conducted in Santa Cruz, California. Twenty trials were conducted May to June, 2005. The first trial was completed with a small group of remote healers in Sheffield, Massachusetts, a distance of 3,000 miles from Santa Cruz. Three Biofield Meters were set up around three subjects. The subjects’ first names were supplied to the distant healers. The healers chose one subject for the healing attempt, which was unknown to the observer. A start time was determined for the healing attempt, and observation of the biofield meters began at that time. Movement of the three biofield meters were measured and recorded during the trial period. Following the trial period, the name of the chosen subject was revealed to the observer. In addition to this initial trial, seventeen other remote healers were invited to attempt distant healing on one of two subjects chose by the experimenter. Seventeen subsequent trials involved one to three subjects and one to four remote healers. It was not feasible to repeat tests using multiple subjects as it was too difficult to coordinate them. Two more trials were conducted on a radio show called ‘Out of Time’ in Hot Springs, Arkansas. On this show the author invited the listening audience to attempt remote healing on a subject sitting next to him. There were two main subjects who where involved in most of the trials.

Results

In the first trial, one of the three Biofield Meters rotated more than 720 degrees, (more than 2 complete rotations). Later phone communication showed that this was the subject chosen for the healing attempt. The subject did not report any sensations or feelings at the time of the attempted healing or on the following days.

In seventeen out of twenty trials, the Biofield Meter showed deflections from about 3 degrees to four full turns (1440 degrees) around the subject chosen for healing. These seventeen included the trials involving the radio show audience. No obvious ‘healing’ effects or sensations were observed by one of the two main subjects. The other subject felt sensations four times which resulted in some healing one time. In three trials where it was offered the remote healers correctly identified problem areas for one subject.

Discussion

In the 1980’s, the author’s initial observations of biofield amplitude used a different version of the Biofield Meter (heavier with more magnets) and showed rotations of only a few degrees. In this experiment the maximum observed was 1440 degrees. The lighter version of the Biofield Meter used in this experiment may be more sensitive than the heavier version.

This experiment shows remote healing at distances of up to 3,000 miles can be indicated by the Biofield Meter. However, the foregoing results need to be replicated with trials in which Biofield Meter rotations are measured more accurately. A scale or rotation counter, perhaps measured in 1/8 rotations would improve measurement.

Another factor to take into account would be the subjects own intrinsic biofield. A control measurement could be made where the subject would sit quietly for at least 5 minutes to allow the Biofield Meter to come to rest. In addition, it would be better to schedule experiments at times of quiet solar / geomagnetic field activity. This can now be predicted to about 70% accuracy. Solar flares can be predicted even more accurately.

Russian Scientists apparently discovered a similar force to that which is measured by the Biofield Meter. They called it a ‘Torsion field’ and did not notice that it was present around living organisms. One Russian researcher found possible evidence that torsion fields appear to propagate significantly faster than the speed of light. He designed a device which could detect the Torsion Field from stars and found that the effect was larger when he pointed his device at the place where the star would be today rather than where it was when the light left the star some time ago. This possible high velocity of spin field could be a factor in healing at a distance.

Theoretical revisions may need to be made as a result of this discovery, if it is verified. If the spin field travels much faster than light, this will require a slight revision in the explanations of electron spin experiments which have puzzled physicists for many years. Since the presence of a rotational force or torsion field can be easily verified by anyone in an hour or two by using a Biofield Meter, an expansion of some physics theories may be required.

From the results of this experiment, one can hypothesize that healers have a much greater influence on the biofield than other effects, such as phase of the moon, solar storms, the proximity of some planets, vitality of the subject, or willful intention of the subject (psychokinesis). Many studies can be made both on the biofield and on remote healing.

This experiment did not distinguish between non-healers (the radio audience) who focused on the subject or people who identified themselves as remote healers. One future study could be on the ability of an individual to affect the biofield of the subject simply by focusing their thought on the subject, without attempting to heal.

Conclusions

In summary this pilot study shows the ability of a simple instrument to detect spin force around humans and opens up a large variety of speculations and possible experiments. Several future studies should be conducted to expand this new area of research.

Acknowledgments

I would like to give many thanks to all the healers and subjects who freely donated their time and services to this project.

References

1. Payne B. A new device which detects and measures an energy field around the human body. American Journal of Acupuncture 1983; 11(4): 353-358.

2. Peschka W. Kinetobaric effect as possible basis for a new propulsion principle. Raumfahrtforschung 1974; trans. by D. Reed, In: t. Valone (ed), Mechanical Energy from Gravitational Anisotropy, Integrity Research Institute, Washing ton, DC, 1996.

3. Payne B. Polarity shifts in a human biofield at times of new and full moon. National Council on Geocosmic Research, Mar. 1985, 17- 19.

4. Hruby R. Empirical detection and measurement of Savely Savva’s Bio-Field. Townsend Letter for Doctors and Patients, Feb. \ Mar. 2003.

5. Payne B. Planetary positions and sunspots. The National Council for Geocosmic Research Journal 1993; Winter 92-93: 33-39.

6. Payne B. The Body Magnetic. Boulder, CO: PsychoPhysics Press, 1988: 276.

Reprint address:

Dr. Buryl Payne
P.0. Box 514, Soquel, CA 95073 
buryl@buryl.com 
www.buryl.com

I’ve recently got myself an iPhone. One of the applications that I downloaded was a simple to use application from Russell Targ, a famous ESP researcher. Russell Targ is a physicist and author who was a pioneer in the development of the laser, and cofounder of the Stanford Research Institute’s investigation into psychic abilities in the 1970s and 1980s (from his web site, espresearch.com).

The ESP trainer was developed under a NASA program by Russell Targ at Stanford Research Institute.

We have found that people are able to improve their ESP scores by using a machine just like this and get in touch with the part of themselves that is psychic. This is often called a clairvoyant ability, and can enhance your life in many surprising ways.

In a year long NASA program with 145 subjects (under Contract 953653 NAS7-100) many were able to significantly improve their scores. Four of the subjects improved their scores at the hundred-to-one level or better. This approach has been used with surprising success on Wall Street. But of course, past results are no guarantee of future performance.

Because you are learning a new skill, slower is better than faster.

The application itself is quite simple and totally free. You’re presented with 4 colored squares and need to guess where the picture is (pick the correct one of the four). If you succeed, you will hear a chime, feel a vibration, and see a large color picture.

If you find yourself frequently scoring 12 or more out of 24 trials, you should contact Russell Targ.

Click to open the application on iTunes store.

Michael Tymn has a very interesting blog at his gaia page. Michael often writes about the issues of survival after death, such as mediumship and NDE. Recently he published a short interview with Dr. Charles Tart.

Tart is a professor emeritus of psychology at the University of California (Davis campus), where he served for 28 years and is now a core faculty member of the Institute of Transpersonal Psychology in Palo Alto, Calif. He has authored more than a dozen books, including Altered States of Consciousness (1969) and Transpersonal Psychologies (1975). He studied electrical engineering at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology before deciding to be become a psychologist. He received his doctoral degree in psychology from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in 1963, and then received postdoctoral training in hypnosis research with Professor Ernest R. Hilgard at Stanford University.

Michael Tymn starts with generic questions about how Dr. Tart came to parapsychology and about his latest book, The End of Materialism . But later focuses his questions on the subject of survival. I must say that Dr. Tart had some really interesting answers. He definitely holds his own opinion about things. He also thinks that the basic 5 ESP types, such as telepathy and precognition were proven beyond reasonable doubt.

Read the full interview with Dr. Charles Tart.

I’ve received this book from Quest books for a review. The full title is The Force Is With Us: The Higher Consciousness That Science Refuses to Accept. The author, Thomas Walker, D.C is a chiropractic physician, master-level martial artist, professor of natural science, and former Green Beret.

I’ll start with going over the structure of the book, chapter by chapter, and will conclude with my impressions of it.

In the preface Thomas tells that he started this project back in 1995 and worked on the manuscript for seven years. Several years later, in 2008 his son Clint was dying of cancer. Before he passed away Clint had promised his father to “keep in touch”. And he kept his promise. According to Walker, numerous anomalous and highly improbably events have happened later that year, described in the preface.

The book has 10 Chapters, each touching different aspect of parapsychology, spirituality or research.

The first chapter, titled “The Force – From Ch’i to Cosmological Constant and Beyond”, Walker starts with the Chinese concept of Ch’i (also spelled Qi), which is what chinese call the Life-force. Ch’i is believe to flow in the body, mainly through a system called meridians, which are highly relevant into Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM). He refers to 1960s research of Professor Kim Bong Han in which he identified a series of unknown ducts in the bodies of animals and people that followed the paths of acupuncture meridians. He later discovered 2 more networks of such ducts bring to greater interconnection of cells in the body. Later follows a story about how the knowledge of Qi was brought to the west in the 20th century and how it was tested in medical tests to be helpful. Following with some research that was done on Qi, he finishes with the research of Professor William Tiller of Stanford University in which he develops a new theory build upon Einstein’s cosmological constant.

Chapter 2 – New Dimensions: Perceptions beyond the Body – talks about Near Death Experiences (NDE), Out of Body Experiences (OBE), explains what psi and parapsychology is. Explains the main areas of psi research from its early history in late 19th century through the 20th, including detailed history of Stanford Research Institute (SRI) research into remote viewing, backed by CIA.

Chapter 3 – More Dimensions: The Body beyond the Body – tells about the more esoteric subject of human bodies beyond the physical, such as etherial, astral and further, based on Theosophy. Detailed history of Kirlian photography and its research is described.

Chapter 4 – Where Do We Go? Arguments for an Afterlife – delves deeper into the research of NDEs, reincarnation research by late Dr. Ian Stevenson. Wakers covers the subject of mediumship, both in history and in research, such as Gary Schwartz’s research. Ending the chapter a detailed story of the great magician Harry Houdini and Arthur Conan Doyle.

Chapter 5 – Paranormal Panache: Superstars of Psychokinesis – tells about the rarer macro-psychokinesis events, starting with 19th century Daniel David Home , who even performed for emperor Napoleon III and Tsar Alexander II, researched, and never found cheating. He was most known for his ability to levitate objects and even himself. Following is the story of Nina Kulagina, heavily researched Russian woman with strong psychokinetic abilities. Later follows the story of most controversial Uri Geller. The chapters ends with an overview of micro-PK research by PEAR, Dr. Dean Radin and others.

Chapter 6 – Magnetically Magnificent: Exploring the Human Energy Field – starts with Mesmer and his research into fluidum (the force) and animal magnetism. The story continues with Baron Karl von Reichenbach, a promising chemist, discoverer of paraffin who changed his career path to research magnetism in humans, which brought him conclusion similar to that of Mesmer that it’s not regular magnetism but other force, which he called the odic force. Next is the story of English physician Walter Kilner, who on the turn of 20th century, found that he could see energy field around living organisms with special equipment. The chapter ends with more recent research by William Tiller and Chinese Dr. Zheng.

Chapter 7 – Orgasmic Outcast: Was Wilhelm Reich Right? – tells the famous story of Austria-born Wilhelm Reich, physician, whose writings were burned thrice – by German Nazis, by Soviets and by US government. Follower and of Freud and even the director of his clinic in Vienna, Reich linked many health issues with the flow of psychic energy, which he called Orgone energy. He decided to research orgone theory. Thomas Walter tells in detail about the history of his research and his life, which ended in US Prison in 1957.

Chapter 8 – Healing the Rift: Alternative Medicine Arrives – gets into the details of many studies done in the 20th century, following the introduction of Chinese medicine and other alternative medicine practices in the west. Numerous studies showed the intent of healers, such a prayer or applications of the force, whatever it’s called, can greatly and positively affect organisms, including humans. Special attention is paid to Therapeutic Touch and to Chiropractic.

Chapter 9 – Schlock Science: Who Makes the Call? – tells about the difficulties that scientists who challenge the status-quo encounter on their way. Starting with Thomas Edison and his electric bulb invention, following the discovery of cold fusion by Martin Fleischmann and Stanley Pons. Then Walter talks about non-psi subject of Mars exploration and the Cydonia region research by Richard Hoagland and the lies of NASA regarding issues related to Mars research. The second half of the chapter leaves the “science” and goes on to describe the history of CSICOP (Committee for the Scientific Investigation of Claims of Paranormal), established in 1976 and now called Committee of Skeptical Inquiry (CSI), started by Ray Hyman, James Randi, Marcello Truzzi and others. CSI is claiming to be an investigating organization but it appears to be a dogmatic Skeptical organization which denies any possibility of psi, without a deep look into things.

Chapter 10 – A Path with Heart: The Way Back Home – argues that the heart plays a more central role in the humans than just pumping the blood. Thomas describes various studies that suggest that not everything is controlled by the brain and that some neurological functions are scattered through the body.

My impressions

The book starts with the subject of Ch’i. Being a Qigong (Chi Kung) student myself for almost 3 years now, I tend to believe that there is something to it. I can relate to the fact that martial artists and Qigong masters can feel and “utilize” it.

The book goes over lots of subjects but has points where it goes deeper, telling about a specific person for several pages. So, even if I read about someone in short previously, I still found lots of new information.

Some might argue that the book is not scientific or that it doesn’t present the opposite point of view, i.e. criticisms of the studies. But having a chapter devoted to showing how science refuses to accept views that drastically differ from the status-quo and about the organized pseudo-skeptics, he clearly chose a side. I think it’s OK to write a book which shows what the author believes to be true. After all, there’s enough totally baseless criticism as well. And I also believe that the media and other establishments will much easier accept and transmit any skeptical argument, however vague, over a study proposing any psi effect.

In conclusion, I highly recommend the book to anyone who’s interesting in these areas of the paranormal or parapsychology which are presented in it. If you are a highly scientific person you’ll have 2 choices. Either skip the book or better yet, follow the studies present in the book (there is bibliography and notes) and try to read them yourself before deciding what’s right or wrong.

Robert Waggoner is the author of the recently released book, Lucid Dreaming: Gateway to the Inner Self . An experienced lucid dreamer for more than thirty years, he has logged approximately one thousand lucid dreams. Waggoner is also President-elect of the International Association for the Study of Dreams.

Could you describe to the people not familiar with Lucid Dreaming what it means?

When you consciously realize you are dreaming, while in the dream state, you are lucid dreaming. So, lucid dreaming requires conscious awareness of dreaming while in the dream. Normally it occurs after a sudden insight like noticing an impossible event, and you realize, “This is a dream!”

Once you realize that you are dreaming, you can think about what you want to do, make deliberate choices and act on your decisions. It’s like your own magic kingdom – you can fly around the room, ask the dream figures to explain the dream symbols, make items appear or disappear, and other incredible things.

By contrast in a normal dream, you usually accept whatever happens. If you are riding a horse, which suddenly becomes a bicycle and then a skateboard, you just unthinkingly accept it.

Can anyone achieve the ability to have lucid dreams?

Almost anyone can learn to lucid dream. Scientific surveys of college students around the world have shown that 47% to 92% claim to have become consciously aware of dreaming while in the dream state at least once. So the lucid dreaming experience seems relatively widespread, especially among the college age population.

Source: The Incidence of Lucid Dreaming within a Japanese University Student Sample
Daniel Erlacher, et.al., International Journal of Dream Research, Vol 1, No 2 (October 2008)

In my book, I provide a number of simple tips and techniques to help people become consciously aware in their dreams. Often people will have a lucid dream after simply hearing about it for the first time. Some people have emailed me about their first lucid dream after reading the first fifty pages of my book.

Children, who suffer from recurring nightmares, sometimes naturally learn how to become consciously aware in their dreams. They realize that the bogeyman only appears in their dream, and so then the next time they see the bogeyman, they conclude, “Hey, this must be a dream” and become lucidly aware. Some of the most prolific lucid dreamers are those who learned it as a child.

What is your personal experience with lucid dreaming?

I taught myself how to lucid dream in the spring of 1975 after reading Carlos Castaneda’s book, Journey to Ixtlan. In the book, don Juan suggests to Carlos that he ‘find his hands’ in the dream state and become consciously aware. So each night before sleep, I sat there looking at the palm of my hands for a few minutes while mentally suggesting, “Tonight in my dreams, I will see my hands and realize I am dreaming.” After a few nights, I dreamt that I was walking through my high school, and suddenly my hands appeared right in front of my face. I thought, “My hands? This is a dream!”

In many respects, this technique reminds me of Ivan Pavlov’s operant conditioning of dogs. Whenever he would bring food, he would ring a bell. Soon the dogs associated the presentation of food with the ringing of a bell, and would salivate whenever they heard a bell ring. In much the same way, I taught myself to associate seeing my hands with the conscious thought, ‘this is a dream,’ and mentally conditioned a lucid response.

In your book you state that through the use of lucid dreaming techniques one can achieve "paranormal" abilities, such as telepathy, clairvoyance etc. This is a bold statement and I'd like to review this subject in more detail.

Actually in my book, I state that 1) experienced lucid dreamers have numerous reports of seeking out and receiving valid telepathic and precognitive information while consciously aware in the dream state, and 2) scientific experiments could be easily set up to test the validity of these claims.

In my book, I show many examples of experienced lucid dreamers (some with PhD’s), who have actively sought out unknown information in lucid dreams, awakened with it and later discovered its validity. In the case of precognitive information, they often had to wait for the information to appear before confirming it.

Lucid dreamers did this to disprove the idea that lucid dreaming involved merely expectation and mental models, while others wished to determine the limits of awareness, when conscious in the subconscious of dreams. In seeking unknown information, these experienced lucid dreamers learned that lucid dreaming provided access to a broader field of awareness. Though Carl Jung proposed the idea of a ‘collective unconscious’ with internalized, biologically based ideas, forms and archetypes, lucid dreaming may allow science to experiment with Jung’s idea and expand it to include much more.

Why do you think gaining such inner abilities in lucid dreaming state is better than in the waking or meditative states?

Since recorded history, much of mankind has experienced precognitive and telepathic dreams. Dreaming naturally seems to ignore ideas of linear time and space. In a dream, we may be in our childhood home with our present day friends, and then hear an odd comment, which someone repeats in the waking world tomorrow. Dreaming may be a natural state of consciousness for the receipt of precognitive and telepathic information. Moreover, when you are consciously aware in the dream state, you have the capacity to pursue telepathic and precognitive information, and actively seek out the Muse.

Not all lucid dreamers will attain the level of proficiency and conceptual openness needed to gather unknown information, however. In those capable, lucid dreaming provides another means to investigate inherent, exceptional human abilities and to do so scientifically. Lucid dreaming may not be ‘better’ than waking or meditative states; rather, lucid dreaming may be another natural state that gives access to extra sensory information and capabilities.

In my book, I recount a story of a lucid dreamer who had a number of painful plantar warts on her feet. For months, she had tried visualizing and suggesting them away, but to no effect. Finally, she became lucid in a dream, recalled her painful plantar warts, and then placed a ball of light on each foot in the lucid dream along with her healing intent. In the morning, her plantar warts had turned black. Within a week, they all fell off and never returned. I read that a Buddhist lama said that a suggestion made in the lucid dream state was nine times more powerful than one made in the waking state. Lucidly aware in our subconscious seems surprisingly amenable to suggestion.

How one would know that what he perceives is not a dream. As I understand this, lucid dreams are still dreams and the remarkable events that may happen during this time are still the results of dreaming.

If a person becomes consciously aware in a dream, seeks out unknown (but verifiable) information, wakes with it, hands it to a scientist or impartial observer, who discovers that the information has validity, then the dreamt information has validity in the realm of waking consensus reality.

A lucid dreamer realizes that he consciously exists in a dream. He or she knows it. The question revolves around the validity of dream information; can a lucid dreamer, knowing that he or she is dreaming, discover unknown but verifiable information about waking reality? In my book, I share numerous anecdotes from many experienced lucid dreamers that show the answer appears to be, ‘yes.’ Now on occasion, the information comes metaphorically, but more frequently it comes literally. Experiments could be devised to focus on non-metaphorical responses.

Is there any scientific proof for this? Many would say that existence of telepathy, precognition or other such phenomena still needs proof. It's not a widely accepted fact, you know, and one would find it hard to prove these are real phenomena. Why go as far as to use lucid dreaming, which by itself a little known phenomena, to prove the existence of this abilities.

Scientific proof for lucid dreaming dates back to the late 1970’s. Keith Hearne at the University of Hull in England devised a sleep lab experiment in which a lucid dreamer would signal that he was consciously aware and dreaming by moving his eyes left to right eight times in a row.Hearne knew that in dreams, we have REM (rapid eye movement), so he deduced that the REM polygraph pad would capture any intentional eye movement signal. In April of 1975, his lucid dreaming associate, AlanWorsley, became lucid in the sleep lab and moved his eyes left to right to signal that he was consciously aware. Hearne, watching the REM polygraph in a nearby room, deemed the event scientifically and philosophically “mind-blowing.”

Unaware of Hearne’s work, Stephen LaBerge at Stanford, performed a very similar experiment a few years later by lucidly signaling his conscious awareness from the dream state through eye movements.LaBerge published his results in a widely read scientific journal in 1981, and has done much research on lucid dreaming since that time.

In my case, I taught myself how to lucid dream in 1975 before this scientific proof was published. Later I discovered that Buddhists have been teaching lucid dreaming, or dream yoga, for more than a thousand years.

Why use lucid dreaming? Again, the dream state seems naturally conducive for telepathic and precognitive information. Scientific studies of dream telepathy were conducted at the Maimonides Hospital sleep lab by Montague Ullman, M.D. and Stanley Krippner, Ph.D., in the 1960’s and ‘70’s with very significant, positive results. Using lucid dreaming, you can directly seek out the information as part of a scientific experiment, wake with it and provide it to the scientist. Lucid dreaming may be the revolutionary tool that provides the convincing evidence for these abilities.

Could you shortly tell the most compelling evidence you have to back your claims regarding these psychic abilities being gained while in lucid dreaming state?

In researching various books and articles and in talking with a wide range of experienced lucid dreamers, I discovered assorted evidence for lucid dreaming as a means to obtain unknown information that later proved to be valid. Some lucid dreamers would get information, then write it down, date it, seal it in an envelope and show it to others, once the event occurred. They felt convinced in advance that they had lucidly discovered future information.

Because the scientific proof of lucid dreaming only goes back thirty years, and most of the research has focused on the neuro-physiological experience, the ‘compelling evidence’ to date involves personal experiments by talented lucid dreamers.

For example, a college student wrote me to ask if I truly felt a person could discover unknown information in the lucid dream state. I encouraged him to conduct his own experiment and find out for himself. So he and a young woman in his dorm devised an experiment. She told him that she had a “bizarre freckle” on her back, and he should become lucidly aware in a dream to discover where it was. In his next lucid dream, he remembered the goal, and headed off to her dorm room to discover the bizarre freckle. Oddly, acquaintances (that did not believe in lucid dreaming) appeared and told him this was crazy, and he suddenly found it hard to move forward, and woke up. Apparently, these ‘distracters’ represented his own lingering doubts made manifest.

So he tried again in another lucid dream. This time he lucidly intended for the young woman to come to him. Suddenly, she was at the door, and he asked her to show him the bizarre freckle. She turned around and he could see it right above her rump. He felt shocked, since he believed that she had hinted it was on the side of her back – but he saw it right above her rump. He decided to wake and recall the unexpected information. Later, he went down to her room, knocked on the door, and announced that he lucidly dreamt the location of her bizarre freckle. When she turns around, he puts his finger on the spot. She pulls up her shirt, and ta-da, the bizarre freckle is directly under his finger.

Obviously this is not a scientifically devised experiment, but it does show some of the challenges, e.g., overcoming doubts, and some of the promise of lucid dreaming as a revolutionary tool to investigate time, space and unknown non-local information.

Back to your book, who's the target audience for your book? Whom would you recommend to read it?

Though my publisher would exclaim, “Everyone! The answer is everyone!”, this book is for those interested in the nature of mind and consciousness, serious lucid dreamers who want to become better at lucid dreaming and conduct their own experiments into the far reaches of lucid awareness, and those involved in Buddhism and dream yoga.

Besides the chapters on getting unknown information, I also have chapters on lucid dreamers who have apparently healed themselves in lucid dreams, sought out conceptual information from the ‘awareness behind the dream’ and seemingly encountered other dreamers in the dream state. Most importantly though, I recount what happened when I decided to go beyond lucid dreaming. Years later, I discovered how that experience apparently connected to the Buddhist tradition’s ultimate goal in dream yoga.

Lucid dreaming is a revolutionary tool to explore the nature of the unconscious mind, which Freud called, “the true reality of the psyche.”

My thanks to Robert Waggoner for this interesting interview

Richard Wiseman, a known British psychology professor, is going to perform an ESP (Extra Sensual Perception) experiment using Twitter as the tool. The experiment will be performed in conjunction with the "New Scientist" magazine. The experiment "protocol" is described by Wiseman:

"At 3 PM (GMT) each day, I will travel to a randomly selected location. Once there, I will send a Tweet, asking everyone to Tweet about their thoughts concerning the nature of my location. Thirty minutes later, I will send another Tweet linking to a Web site that will allow everyone to view photographs of five locations (the actual location and four decoys), think about the thoughts and images that came to them in the 30 minutes before, and vote on which of the five they believe to be the actual target location. If the majority of people select the correct target, then the trial will count as a hit."

The trials will be held Tuesday to Friday this week (1st trial already ran).

My personal opinion is that this is a far cry from being any kind of a scientific experiment. To me it's more like a publicity stunt by Richard Wiseman (granted, he's a known person and might not want more publicity). I have run my own Psi Experiments a couple of years ago (site's still alive). Experiment also presented an image with a choice of 1 of 5, where only one was correct. The skeptics (rightfully) criticized the experiment because it was so unscientific and the results of my first psi experiment showed that people are much more biased to answer options 2 or 4 out of 5 options present.

I believe even my 3rd psi experiment (still running) is much better designed.

I’ve just finished reading Lawrence LeShan’s book A New Science of the Paranormal: The Promise of Psychical Research. I’ve received the book for the review from its publisher, Quest Books. It went out in April this year.

I must say that I’ve never heard of Lawrence LeShan earlier although, based on the book, he was researching paranormal for several decades. He was born in 1920, he’s trained and published psychotherapist, and is the author of the best selling book How to Meditate: A Guide to Self-Discovery.

“A New Science of the Paranormal” consists of seven chapters and an appendix. Each chapter also includes one or two “case histories” – a paranormal case from Lawrence’s career or another famous case. The chapters in the book are:

1. Psychic Research and the Consistency of the Universe.
2. What Do We Know About Psychic Phenomena
3. Normal and Paranormal Communication
4. Designing a Science of Psychical Research
5. Psi and Altered States of Consciousness
6. The Next Step: Implications of the New Science
7. What Dare I Hope

The Appendix in titled: “When is Uvani”.

Chapter 1 tells some history of psi research, the concepts, why is it difficult, including psychological factors. One tidbit is his current disapproval of connecting psi and quantum physics which has become so popular lately.

Chapter 2 describes the 4 things that were proven about paranormal research and 9 which are almost certain to be true.

Chapter 3 tries to compare normal and paranormal types of communication. He gets away from the “paranormal” terminology into cleaner one in order to better understand the differences and similarities between regular and “paranormal” communication types.

Chapter 4 begins what I think was the main goal in writing the book in the first place. Lawrence explains how science approaches different subjects and argues which approaches would be best for psychical research. He writes that he now believes that psi research should be approached not with more laboratory testing, like exact sciences, but like social sciences which employ other methods of research and deduction.

In Chapter 5 Lawrence describes how theories about “reality” shape the worldview and how the conflicts between observed phenomena and what we think about reality should be handled, in science. It is quite a philosophical chapter, in the good sense of the word.

Chapter 6 starts with some more psychological effects of psi events. How people reject them after they happen. This chapter also has a call to scientist to bring psi research into the mainstream science and also explains how to do this.

In Chapter 7 LeShan hopes that the acceptance of the existence of psi by the public will bring change to the way people think of the world and how they behave, to the better.

The Appendix is like a chapter by itself. In it LeShan tries to continue his design of the new science of the paranormal. He explains how we might try to overcome some difficulties with psi research by asking the right questions and thinking of it all in more abstract way, like in mathematics, for example.

The case histories after each chapter are very interesting and diverse. I’ve never heard of any of them although they all seem very compelling. They are all what a skeptic of psi would call “anecdotal” but again, one of the main points that Lawrence LeShan tries to pass in the book is that psi research should be taken out of the laboratory and the focus should be on these unique and very strong cases, which he calls “need-determined”. These are the cases where something “paranormal” happens because of a great need of some other person.

If you’re serious about psi research, consciousness and want to get a wider point of view on the various difficulties of this research and how to approach it, you should read “A New Science of the Paranormal”. It is quite different from many other books which are either too unscientific on one hand, or those which are heavy on statistics on another.

I think Leshan could also be a good guest for the Skeptiko podcast.

A member of our parapsychology forum , advised using FEC (Forward Error Correction) codes in psi experiments. This should help, in his opinion, create a more remarkable result out of psi test. Here’s an edited excerpt of his post (a little technical):

Most ESP tests show only a slight (but consistent) deviation from the expected results (e.g. in a test where the nominal chance of a hit is 50%, someone consistently scores 52%). In the long run, such an effect is statistically significant, but it is by no means “impressive” by human measures. BUT, consider these:

3. ...So, instead of trying to apply ESP on “raw” tests (e.g. testing telepathy with Zener cards), and just comparing the results with the expected hits, why not make the objects (e.g. the Zener cards) code some digital data (the “message”), protected with a heavily redundant error-correction code (e.g. one that increases data size to 1500%, but only needs 10% of the transmitted, protected data to recover the original). As the “receiving” subject senses the cards, assuming that we are witnessing actual psychic ability, the received results will likely contain enough signal (that is, receptions produced by ESP, not by random chance, i.e. noise) to recover the original message.

If you’re not familiar with FEC, here’re a couple of real examples which I gave later in the forum. I studied some of it in university but it was quite a few years ago so I might not be 100% accurate, so beware.

A basic example would be a Compact Disc. You know that even if it has scratches in a moderate amount, the player will still play it will. This is since it can reconstruct the correct information using data that is still available (if there’s enough of it). A more basic example of actual ECC would be transmitting everything 3 times. Then, if one of 3 is received with error it’ll still be able to select the right result (2 of 3). Of course, there are much better ways.

Since I liked his idea I decided to email Dr. Dean Radin, one of the leading parapsychologists today. His first reply on the topic was as follows:

Between now and May 1, 2009,   Mrs. Roller will match, dollar for dollar, any donations made to the Gilbert Roller Fund to support this important line of research.  Traditionally most of the modest support for parapsychological research has come from individuals and foundations with the vision and courage needed to support science on the cutting edge.  Your contributions will enable qualified researchers with professional knowledge of past investigations of this type to continue to explore large-scale psychokinetic phenomena in the real world.

The PA provides a professional "home" for scientists and scholars around the world who dare to investigate phenomena shunned by mainstream science. Donations can be made to the Gilbert Roller Fund electronically by visiting their members site, or by check mailed to the Parapsychological Association at P.O. Box 24173, Columbus, OH 43224. The PA is a 501(c)(3) charitable organization and donations are tax-deductible in the USA.

I believe that if you're somewhat interested in parapsychology or if you have seen the movie What the Bleep!? - Down the Rabbit Hole (you might like it if you liked The Secret movie or book) then you've heard about the study of Dr. Masaru Emoto, where he claims that people's intentions change the structure of water crystals. 

There was some criticism of the study and Dr. Dean Radin, with Dr. Emoto and other people decided to make a replication of this study, with tighter controls. The research was triple-blind, meaning that nobody knew everything - the people giving intentions, the raters, the photographers and researchers. All this should control for some biases that are usually present in loosly controlled experiments.

Now, Dr. Radin published some results of the research on his blog. Some excerpts:

An experiment tested the hypothesis that water exposed to distant intentions affects the aesthetic rating of ice crystals formed from that water. Over three days, 1,900 people in Austria and Germany focused their intentions towards water samples located inside an electromagnetically shielded room in California. Water samples located near the target water, but unknown to the people providing intentions, acted as "proximal" controls. Other samples located outside the shielded room acted as distant controls.

And some of the results:

Results suggested that crystal images in the intentionally treated condition were rated as aesthetically more beautiful than proximal control crystals (p = 0.03, one-tailed). This outcome replicates the results of an earlier (double blind) pilot test.

Some more information, including good Q&A in the posts comments can be found in the original post by Dean Radin. This may prove to be a very interesting and important experiment.

If it is proven that remote intention can change matter, then it's a whole new world. This can explain remote healing, micro-psychokinesis and other aspects and effects of psi.