General Chat

14. Definition: Paranormal - Beyond the scope of normal scientific understanding. It appears that, in the cases of visual, auditory or olfactory fields, the sensations are located not in the eyes, ears or nose but centred in the brain. An analogy is when we see a bright light or figure and the illumination is removed, when we close our eyes the Image remains in our mind’s eye. In another thread (Ghosts in the Head - or bats in the Belfry) I have made reference to “blind sight” which is perception direct by the mind instead of the usual receptors (eyes, ears etc). Examples from scientific studies include blind persons who, when having something held out towards them (e.g. a wine glass), locate the object in space and form their hand in a suitable shape to receive the item. In the non-human world, a blind monkey was observed to pick up currants from the floor and catch a passing fly. The monkey’s senses of smell and hearing would not have been adequate. There are many examples but this necessarily has to be a very brief essay. Nicholas Humphrey, a theoretical psychologist who has held teaching posts at both Oxford and Cambridge deals with the subject in his book “A History of the Mind”. It is a fact that modern humans potentially retain faculties that have been more fully exploited in other species. In accordance with Darwinian Theory, any species will evolve faculties which enhance its survival chances. Homo sapiens are still evolving. Perhaps into different sub-species as once humans did from the other anthropoid apes. Other species – birds, sharks, porpoises, snakes, and octopi etc. have all manner of hard-to-believe senses that enable them to thrive. They can see what we can’t in the electro-magnetic radiation spectrum including infra-red and ultra-violet light, maybe more. Snakes can “see” heat sources and “taste” smells. Cats do the last trick too. Cetaceans (porpoises etc) can see in ultra sound as do many other creatures. They may also detect and navigate by magnetic lines of force. Ancient humans seemed to do that too and mapped out the lines on land and dubbed them “ley lines” but more of that later. Sharks and their cousins can pick up electrical auras from other living creatures, even when buried under the sea floor So it would not be surprising if humans too (or some of them) possessed these uncanny capabilities in some form or another. Who is to say if a person can or cannot actually see the electrical force field surrounding each us and call it an aura? It is known to be there and is detectable and measurable with instruments. Just take off a silk shirt or blouse in the dark and watch the sparks. Let’s not go into Kirlian photography just yet. Tests done on London taxi drivers learning “the skill” have amply demonstrated that, if a faculty is regularly exercised, the actual part of the brain being used grows, producing new neural networks. That goes for any skill from card playing to making music, so why not psychic abilities. Practice makes perfect. Conversely, not using a faculty causes it to wither. Research in Sweden and verified in our research centres reports that up to a quarter of the population can detect the proximity of power cables, some to the extent of getting headaches and feeling ill. Their brains and nervous systems are picking up electro-magnetic radiation. So, if “life-force” is an electro-magnetic emanation which operates in conjunction with the brain but can also leave the physical body, surely it follows that those so gifted should be able to perceive it with mind-sight ? Len

13. In my researches, I found a good friend in a Chartered Psychologist. I was an Accountant but we hit it off together as we were both investigative and inclined to scepticism. He is also a hypnotherapist and when he found that I was interested in past life, introduced me to a lady hypnotist in the Aylesbury area who specialised in regression. I made an appointment and was seen together with two other, independent researchers who I had never met before. I thought, as so many do, that I could not be hypnotised. I was wrong though. I was 'put under' when my turn came whilst the other two people observed and made notes. There was also a tape recorder. Briefly, I was regressed to 1340 and was a monk, journeying on foot from a monastery in Novgorod (where I had been since aged 8) to Milan University, making a living en route by distilling pain-killer from willow bark My baggage train was a mule. I was astounded afterwards by my apparent knowledge of Russian and world politics. I had never studied the subject and had never realised that what we know as Russia was then about 15 independent republics.There was a war going on in Europe. However, I'm aware that the conscious mind can forget a lot but the unconscious retains all at a very deep level and it is possible, though unlikely, that I had read all this at some time. There could be an alternative explanation for my experience. The same thing may be said of the other two people who were also regressed at the same time as me. I say 'the same time' but actually, it was a three-day session with one of us undergoing hypnosis each day, the other two acting at witnesses and keeping independent notes. Interestingly, one of the others was regressed to a South American people, the Olmecs about 800AD. She knew nothing whatsoever of this race and found the session meaningless and thought she must have dreamed up her experience - until I researched for her (and for my own need to know) the dress, culture, symbolism, religious ceremonies etc that she had described under hypnosis, and duly astounded her. There again, she may have read it up some time in her past and forgotten it but with the information retained deep in her subconscious. I once visited a medium. on the spur of the moment, who I had never met before and who, until we met, did not know I existed. I am always very careful not to give away clues, I have seen too many fake mediums probing sitters. It was a public demonstration at the Spiritualists Association in Belgravia and anyone could attend. I was picked out of a crowd and had not sat anywhere near the medium, having gone just to observe. The medium gave me a long message from my grandfather which included that I had an oil-painting of him - which I promptly denied, only to find out later (from an aunt who I told about the medium) that I did have one, a small one, buried in a box of old photos that she had given me, which I had left unopened. On checking..... it was there. I also found I was wrong - and the medium right - on a number of other counts. She also told me that I carried a memorial card re my father, which I did, in my wallet. This implies that either the medium or the deceased has access to my subconscious and memories. Taking into account that the medium told me things which I had not known, which I only found out later from an independent source, logic leaves me believing in life after death, although what form it takes is uncertain. Certainly it is an intelligence. I have never seen the pyramids but do not doubt that they exist - too much evidence to be denied. Some would deny it, though. There are those who still believe in a flat earth - which was made and populated in 7 days. I have traveled quite long distances, on many occasions, to observe regressions under hypnosis and I am fairly well convinced about it, having had the opportunity to meet and assess both hypnotist and subject at various sessions. It cost me £75 to be regressed - maybe 20 years ago. Well worth it though - although one has to be sure of getting a real hypnotist who is a person of integrity.. Years ago, when I had more time and fewer commitments, I spent about 5 years traipsing around the country, armed with notebook and tape-recorder studying mediums. True ones are hard to find although they do exist. Most of them are spoofs and one could recognise their spiels, seeing how they scanned the sitters, obtaining information upon which they embroidered. I would not trust a tv programme, too easy to enhance with cutting, editing and special effects. Len

I really must be briefer. If I go on a bit, GR chops bits off my post. len

12. So the world is not as we perceive it then. It doesn’t really matter. We are all made of stardust (molecules on a carbon atom base) and to stardust we shall return. Some sooner than others. For those who care to look, there is a world of wonder and beauty, even in mathematics. Most mathematicians do not usually view their subject as a thing of beauty – elegant is their highest praise.. So what can be beautiful about maths? I expect some view famous equations, such as Einstein’s e=mc² as beautiful as it gives the minimal assumption but opens a whole world of thought. But as for visual beauty, fractals are pure maths (geometry) but a delight for the eye. The more you zoom in on a fractal, the more detail you get. And this keeps going on forever and ever. The void is full of fractals Google “fractals”. Space is endless patterns, perhaps an enormous fractal. The ancient Mayans of South America, although they seemed to have no written language, invented a calendar of remarkable accuracy and complexity, based on astronomical observations and advanced mathematics,and were by its means able to project dates far into the future. It used three different dating systems in parallel with each other. No space here to describe. It is of particular interest because it theoretically predicts the end of the world on 21st December 2012. Until that date passes there will be some folk wondering about the worth of their long-term investments whilst other will be pondering if they have chosen the best philosophy in life. They got quite a few things wrong so there’s hope. The generic term for the energy that pervades life and the universe is Life Force. Some cosily think of it personified in the shape of a little old man, with a harp, sitting on a cloud. Sceptics and some scientists do not believe in it at all, particularly the biologist Prof. Richard Dawkins who has just published a book disposing of God. Dawkins is one of those narrow minded souls. He may be offended by being referred to as a soul, but there you go. These people never seem to stray beyond the confines of their own particular school of thought. He really should engage in conversation with a quantum physicist or even an astronaut who has returned from space. Plato defined the soul as being like the brain but without the physical properties. George Lucas the film director , in his Star Wars film was near the mark when he had his character Obi-Wan Kenobi describe life force as ” The Force” or an energy field created by all living things . It surrounds and penetrates us and binds the galaxy together. Every culture on earth has a term for the concept of life force. Christian tradition dubs it “the soul”. Each of us has a bio-electric field which can be detected and measured. Moreover, we are constantly being bombarded and penetrated by particles from the sun or outer space. We could not survive without this constant stream of energy. Sufferers from S.A.D (Seasonal Affective Disorder) know only too well how they are plunged into gloom and depression by receiving insufficient of the particles of electro-magnetic energy called photons. To Joe Soap in the street, that is sunlight. It produces vitamin D in our bodies, and in all plants and surface-dwelling animals by photosynthesis. There are some creatures, deep underground or under the deepest oceans, who manage without. Other particles of matter pass clear through the earth without stopping. Take away the sunlight and we all die – as did the dinosaurs (or most of them). There are a number of therapies that use light (energy waves) to promote healing and a sense of well-being. Light, which is an energy form that mostly travels in waves, whether natural or man-made affects the amount of hormones secreted by our pineal, hypothalamus and pituitary glands in the brain. The closer the light is to sunlight, the better. It is recommended for convalescing patients and is beneficial in the treatment of various disorders including those as different as skin conditions, jet lag, sleep disorder and dyslexia. In the same spectrum are ultra-violet light, infra-red and x-rays and a few others. len

Dorothy. Glad you found me. Had to do something to compensate for not getting to the meet. Never was much good at twiddling my thumbs. len

Carol Thank you for the references. I will try and check them out. Thank you for you kind words. I always felt my language was awkward as I am so often told 'don't know what you are on about'. Bear in mind that I am just indulging in home-baked philosophy based on what I read. Always prepared to debate, though. When I pass on, I hope that they will have developed a mobile that I can smuggle across and that can withstand great heat and have very long-life batteries. I will call a few people. len

Sylvia I will try him. With regard to mental disorders producing sparks of brilliance I have two books on my shelves which may interest you. They are downstairs and I am upstairs and can't recall the authors or correct titles right now but will give you both if you are interested. One I think is called Idiot/Savants (theres been a couple of progs on tv and a film with Dustin Hoffman called 'The Rainman' on the subject) and the other deals with Bipolar Disorder (yesterday's manic depression) and how it produces artists and people like Winston Churchill. PM me if you want details. len

Susan You are talking quantum mechanics. Particles may be separated by an infinite distance yet still affect each other. Just the thing for bed-time reading. len

Hi Len Just found this - haven't got time to read it right now - but am sure it will be fascinating!

Hi Len, I really do like Seb Faulkes as an author; writes with a real insight into humanity with all its foibles etc. I have known a lecturer in psychology for about 25 years now and done loads of typing for him throughout that time. He is actually a schizophrenic himself, but the creativity just pours out of him. And it all makes such sense. Keep on posting Len = very interesting and thought provoking stuff. Sylvxx

Fascinating Len I have only just come across this thread and enjoyed reading it. I like reading Focus magazine which makes a lot of scientific ideas clear to non experts. I found a recent idea that distant things can still be somehow connected to each other and have an effect on each other intriguing. This might explain a lot of paranormal experiences. Thank you Sue

11. Scientific investigation into psychical research is fraught with difficulties, not only because of the near impossibility of arranging sessions to order, under clinical conditions, but there is also the possibility of mediums being skilled in telepathy and obtaining information from the sitter. That was a bit of a paradox as telepathy, until the last couple of years, was itself derided by the scientific world as hocus-pocus. However, there is now excellent evidence for telepathy (Distant-intentionality) from various famous academic institutions around the world and, like hypnotism, it is gradually being acknowledged. The boffins like to call it that as “telepathy” is a bit unscientific-sounding and they think “Distant Intentionality” is more exacting. It is sending thought or intentions to a remote destination, by some (at present not identified) electro-magnetic force, instantaneously over any distance. It sounds good too. “Distant Intentionality” – one can roll it round the tongue and savour it. Further research reveals that the human mind can also interfere with electronic machinery. Some successful gamblers have long maintained that they can influence the fall of dice. I wonder if some can make horses run faster. It seems that this world of ours, so solid and reassuring, is just the result of thousands of years of brain-conditioning and moulding. Our brains have a “need to know” control, a set of parameters (blinkers if you like) to prevent them being overloaded with a mass of information which we do not need for health and survival. For instance, a house-fly needs super eyesight to prevent us from swatting it - so actually can see the alternating pulses of light from an a/c (alternating current) electric light bulb whereas we cannot even discern the individual, 16-frames-per-second pictures flashed onto the cinema screen. We just take it as a moving picture. That’s our conscious mind, of course. If an extra frame containing a message (e.g. “I need an ice cream”) was inserted, it would not register with the conscious mind but the subconscious would catch it and a queue would rapidly form at the ice-cream kiosk. That’s called “subliminal” – it hasn’t registered with the thinking part of us, yet our subconscious has somehow caught it and gets us to act upon it Subliminal messages are, of course, illegal. That fact demonstrates that it is a very well known phenomenon of many years standing and the government has had to act to save us from ourselves. The subconscious is not bound by the same rules as the conscious mind, in other respects as well as receiving subliminal messages. At one time in my life no-one could have been more hard-line than me. I only accepted what my five senses told me. I was a hard-headed accountant and auditor and could calculate and manipulate figures at fairly high speed, without the use of any calculator (they had not been invented). I was aware, though that if interrupted in, say, adding up a long row of figures, I would have no idea of where I had got to and would have to start again. I did not do figures at a conscious level. I also became aware (and colleagues in the business admitted much the same) that if there was what seemed to be an insoluble problem, the answer often came when I had given up and was indulging in a spot of day-dreaming – better know now as a “meditational” state. The best example that comes to mind when something seemed to have gone wrong with a mechanised (not computerised) accounting system at Furness Withy, the shipping people It was £.s.d. then, not decimalised. The books would never balance, always out by a few hundred pounds every day. With others I spent a couple of weeks checking and re-checking. Nothing. The Eureka moment came when I was 'meditating' in the loo: the machine had stopped registering halfpence, a mechanical fault with a small cog,soon fixed. I also sometimes worked with an outstanding auditor, a marvellous Irishman who could “smell” a fraud a mile off – and I never knew him to be wrong. His only explanation: 'sure, 'tis a gift' len

Steve Oops, my mistake. Joseph Banks was, in fact, botanist on Captain Cooke's voyages. len

Carol When I was training to be a counsellor, my supervisor was Dr Diana Reilly, consultant psychiatrist at our local hospital. On memory, she told me that they noted that babies born in the maternity ward were noted for actively responding to the signature tune of 'Neighbours' which many young mums seemed to be addicted to in the 90s. The babies, it seemed, also listened, from the womb - and remembered. len

Sylvia I have been referred before to Seb. Faulks but, these days, I steer clear of novels, mainly because of lack of time. Long ago I read Arthur C.Clarke and Isaac Asimov. Ever tried those? They were into both fiction and non-fiction, both being scientists I love reading the latest scientific work, particularly in the fields of the paranormal and quantum mechanics, which terms seem to be synonymous. What strikes me is that all these scientists seem to stick strictly to their own patch. An astrophysicist never strays into psychology or palaeontology and botanists treat crystallography or mathematics as no-go areas. I seem to suffer from a sort of synaesthesia (confusion between the senses) and see all these things merging into one another. What did you learn from Seb. Faulks? Thanks for adding to my thread. len

Steve You have noticed something that many others have noticed too, over a long period of time. In fact the case has been proved by clinical trials conducted by Prof. Joseph Banks Rhine and students of Duke University in North Carolina. Groups of students were divided into three teams. Each team was given access to trays of seedlings, all grown under identical circumstances and cared for equally by horticulturalists. Each team had an identical laboratory. Briefly, team A willed their seedlings to thrive and treated them to kindly thoughts whilst team B just watched theirs. Team C willed theirs to fail . Guess what ? The A plants did extraordinarily well; the B plants were normal whilst the C plants were stunted. Fresh plants were introduced and the teams reversed their roles. Results were the same. The experiments were repeated over and over with different teams of students. Conclusion: The human mind is able to affect plants. This can be read up in 'The Reach of the Mind' by J.B.Rhine. Be warned though, it can be tedious reading with endless repetition of tests and loads of statistics It is Interesting that Darwin's botanist on the Beagle was one Joseph Banks Professor Robert Jahn of Princeton did much the same apropos the mind and electronic machinery. In his case, he set out to disprove theories but was won over Thanks for your input len

Thank you, Len.

I always have a chat to mine! lol Sylvx

that's really interesting Steve - maybe Prince Charles has got it right then when he chats to his plants! Maz. XX

Len Two plants (fiscus) were bought on the same day both plants were the same size and in the same condition (healthey) one was places in the family room the other in my studio. both rooms face due south, have almost identical light and heat the one in the family room is subjected to a huge ammount of noise TV, music, human chatter, ect the other is given an almost silent life three years on the one in the family room is almost twice the size of its twin in my studio now does the plant in the family room 'think' its part of the family and therefore thrives, and does the other plant feel excluded and just plods along?????? Steve