|
2004 DPE Reports
December
2004 Department of Phenomenal Evidence Report
By
The Revs. Tom and Lisa Butler, NST
A Way to Peace.
The Dalai Lama has written about
practical ways to control dangerous impulses, “impulses that
collectively can lead to war and mass violence.” He has stated that
drugs or injections were not needed and that it was not necessary to
become a Buddhist or adopt a religious faith. He wrote, “Everybody has
the potential to lead a peaceful, meaningful life.” As evidence, he
referred to the work of Richard Davidson, a neuroscientist at the
University of Wisconsin. Davidson is using imaging devices to monitor
the brain during mediation and his work has shown that meditation can
lead to a reduction in destructive emotions. The Dalai Lama sums up
Davidson work by saying, “Mindfulness meditation strengthens the
neurological circuits that calm a part of the brain that acts as a
trigger for fear and anger.”
From: Noetic Sciences Review # 65, “Data and the Divine” by
Christian De Quincey
Comment:
We wrote about Mindfulness Meditation in the July 2004 column. In that
item, it was noted that mindfulness meditation was helpful in improving
the immune system. Remember that you need not be able to enter into a
deep trance to gain the benefits of this form of meditation. Just about
anyone can learn to relax in this way, and thus, be benefited.
Church Attendance. The Spiritist Society of Florida ran
an interesting article about what keeps people away from their services
and events in one of their newsletters. Some of the reasons given were
that people were afraid a medium would read their mind, that the spirits
might reveal embarrassing information and that they might be reprimanded
for things that they were doing that were not morally or ethically
correct. The Society also learned that many were afraid that Spiritists
teaching might actually be true and that this might require them to
change their whole way of thinking regarding life.
The Spiritist Society also wanted to know why mediums did not attend
meetings. Some of the reasons given were lack of self-confidence, fear,
not wanting the responsibility, feeling unworthy and being afraid that
mediumship would require them to become more moral. From: Robert Egby Parapsychic Journal #20
Spiritualism Should be Treated with More Respect.
John Samson, a long-standing member of the Society for Psychical
Research (SPR) has many years of experience with spiritualism and
mediumship. In a talk described in the SPR’s Paranormal Review,
he offered insights into his beliefs. He admitted to being alarmed at
the continuing prejudice that open-minded scientists encounter when
investigating the paranormal. Yet, some of the greatest thinkers admit
to being spiritually guided. He mentioned Alan Turing, the inventor of
the modern computer and reported that Turing had felt the presence of a
dead college mate during his inventions and thinking.
Samson thinks that Spiritualism should be treated with more respect and
said that there is more than enough evidence in Spiritualism to provide
scientific answers, but science is not looking at the problem in a way
that elicits potential answers. From: Paranormal Review Issue 31, “The actor, the medium and the
message”
The Experience of Psychokinesis. In the June 2004 Fate magazine, Loyd Auerback
talked about the work of Pamela Rae Heath and her book, The PK Zone:
A Cross-Cultural Review of Psychokinesis (PK), iUniverse, 2003. The
book gives us information on the experience of PK and offers suggestions
on how to do it. Auerback points out that some form of altered state of
consciousness is involved with PK as well as high or strong emotion.
Heath found that it didn’t matter what kind of emotion was behind the
experience as long as it was intense. Boredom was as effective as
sadness or anger and playfulness was very helpful for performing PK.
Auerback’s article gives a great list of Do’s and Don’ts that come
directly from Heath’s book.
From: Fate June 2004, “The Psychokinetic Zone” by Loyd
Auerback
Online Development Tools. Explore parapsychology at
http://psychicscience.com with Michael Daniels PhD. This site offers an
online ESP and PK trainer as well as ESP and PK tests. There is a psi
quiz experiment, a psi test significance calculator and even a random
number generator. You can print your own ESP cards or do a paranormal
crossword puzzle. Many may find the glossary of terms in parapsychology
that are listed on the site helpful as well.
It’s Electrifying. Have you ever had a sodium street
lamp flicker and switch off as you approach it only to have it turn on
again after you pass? Many people have reported this and
parapsychologists have given this occurrence a name: Street Light
Interference (SLI). People who are often affected by this are called
Sliders. The majority of sliding incidents are easily explained because
when sodium and mercury vapor streetlights start burning out they
flicker on and off. However, some Sliders claim they affect other
electrical items just by being close to them and that equipment around
them often malfunctions. Mark Pilkington, writing in the Guardian,
says that this is “Sometimes referred to as High Voltage Syndrome (HVS).
Cases have been recorded as far back as 1837.” He writes that in 1976,
after breaking his arm, a twelve year old blew up thirty vacuum
cleaners, two washing machines and five irons. Pilkington goes on to say
that, “What causes people to retain so much static electricity is
unknown …. Despite the massive increase in electricity use, recorded
instances do not seem to have risen dramatically in the past 150 years.
From: “It’s Electrifying” by Mark Pilkington, The Guardian,
www.guardian.co.uk
Comment:
A woman in California was known to be able to permanently burn out light
bulbs by willing them to go out. Evidence seen in Electronic Voice
Phenomena (EVP) suggests that the phenomenal voices are telekinetically
caused in the active regions of transistors and vacuum tubes. Perhaps we
are seeing evidence that it is easier to influence electricity than it
is to influence objects, such as the way dice fall.
Things to Consider
Biased
By the Box:
There is
little doubt that television portrays mental illness unfairly. A study
reported on in the Journal of Community Psychology #32, by
J. Minnebo and A.V.Acker, showed that in television dramas, seventy per
cent of fictional characters suffering mental illness had committed a
violent act. And yet in reality it has been estimated that only eight
per cent of people suffering mental illness show any sign of becoming
violent. From: the
British Psychological Society
www.bps.org.uk,
The Research Digest Issue 16. (21.04.04)
www.bps.org.uk/publications/rd.cfm
|
