On this page, I have collected some resources (webpages and books) for open-minded individuals who don't think that the boundaries of orthodox science have to be the limit of their personal quest for knowledge. A hundred years ago, physicists believed that physics was more or less complete, with only a few minor flaws, some anomalies, to fix. Those anomalies became relativity and quantum mechanics, which have forever changed our understanding of the world we live in. It would be presumptious in the extreme to assume that we have complete knowledge of the fundamental laws of nature today. Indeed, a growing mountain of evidence suggests otherwise.
Decades of parapsychological research have produced convincing evidence that PSI phenomena such as remote viewing or psychokinesis are real. When this realization finally hits the mainstream, the result will be no less than a revolution. Philosophy, the physical sciences, psychology, history and medicine, but also the conventional religious beliefs will all have to be re-evalutated. The implications for the future of humanity are enormous:
Historians could explore the past directly, through ESP. Doctors might use ESP to diagnose patients, and psychokinesis to cure them. Physicists and astronomers will have the means to explore both the very small and the very large without instruments. Philosophers will have to let go of Cartesian duality, but in return, they will gain the means to explore "metaphysical" questions through direct perception. Organized religion will perish, because people will no longer need religious authorities to tell them what happens after death, or about God.
As you read through this page, the topics covered become less "scientific" and more esoteric. To the conventional scientific mind, things such as chakras, the kundalini energy and the the aura are unproven at best, and ridiculous superstitions at worst. But "science" is not a body of knowledge, it is a method. Even subjects that are derided by skeptics as beyond the pale can and are being studied scientifically and reported in specialized journals.
This page does not cover UFOs. I have devoted a separate page to this subject.
| Parapsychology |
Parapsychology is the application of scientific methodology to "psychic", or psi phenomena. A parapsychologist is a scientist who works in the field of parapsychology. Psychic readers may advertise themselves as "parapsychologists", but they are not. Psychic phenomena are classified into two categories, depending on whether they involve knowledge that could not have been received through any conventional channels, or apparent manipulation of physical systems solely by means of the mind. The former is labeled extrasensory perception, or ESP, while the latter is called psychokinesis or telekinesis. ESP is further subdivided into categories such as telepathy, clairvoyance and precognition.
When using these terms, it is important to keep in mind that they are just labels, not explanations.
Saying that "an energy healer really just uses psychokinesis" does not explain the capability, it
justs attaches another label to it. Also, in many instances, the labeling can be quite arbitrary. When
a person is consistently highly successful (i.e. far above chance) at roulette, and any kind of cheating can be ruled out,
one might think that that person is manipulating the outcome of the game and label the ability "psychokinesis". One might also
think that the person 'merely' knows the outcome in advance and is betting on the right number, making it "precognition".
You can read more about this and many other issues in Dean Radin's PSI FAQ. I also highly recommend reading The Conscious Universe by the same author. With The Conscious Universe, Radin deals a devastating blow to those "sceptics" who still deny the existence of psi phenomena, exposing common sceptical arguments against psi as uninformed or even pseudoscientific. The most convincing scientific argument for the reality of psi phenomena so far.
Review of The Conscious Universe
| Ancient civilizations and the search for the true origins of humankind |
The Human Race evolved from apelike creatures roughly 100,000 years ago. About 5000 years ago, civilization as we know it started to develop. Our civilization today is the most advanced that has ever existed on planet earth. Or is it? There is tantalizing evidence that we got it all wrong, and that the human race is much more ancient than we thought.
Esoteric sources, such as Edgar Cayce, have always described a very different history of the human race, one that makes us not the apex of human evolution, but mere descendants of extremely ancient and highly advanced civilizations that existed on earth hundreds of thousands of years ago. But if that was true, wouldn't there be archeological evidence? Indeed there would be, and there is. Such evidence is commonly referred to as an archeological anomaly. Below, you will find many links that explore this issue. I also recommend reading Forbidden Archeology: The Hidden History of the Human Race. An abridged introduction to that book is available online.
"In fact, such evidence has already been found, but it has since been supressed or conveniently forgotten. Much of it came to light immediately after
Darwin published The Origin of Species, before which there had been no notable finds except Neanderthal man. In the first years of Darwinism,
there was no clearly established story of human descent to be defended, and professional scientists made and reported many discoveries that now would never
make it into the pages of any journal more academically respectable than the National Enquirer. Most of these fossils and artifacts were unearthed
before the discovery by Eugene Dubois of Java man, the first protohuman hominid between Dryopithecus and modern humans.
Java man was found in Middle Pleistocene deposits generally given an age of 800,000 years. The discovery became a benchmark. Henceforth, scientists would not
expect to find fossils or artifacts of anatomically modern humans in deposits of equal or greater age. If they did, they (or someone wiser) concluded that
this was impossible and found some way to discredit the find as a mistake, an illusion, or a hoax. Before Java man, however, reputable nineteenth-century
scientists found a number of examples of anatomically modern human skeletal remains in very ancient strata. And they also found large numbers of stone tools
of various types, as well as animal bones bearing signs of human action."
source: Forbidden Archeology: pages 18-19
In the 1960s, anthropologists uncovered advanced stone tools at Hueyatlaco, Mexico. Geologist Virginia Steen McIntyre and other members of a team from the U.S. Geological Survey obtained for the site's implement-bearing layers an age of about 250,000 years. This challenges the whole standard picture of human origins. Men capable of making the kind of tools found at Hueyatlaco are not thought to have come into existence until some 100,000 years ago, in Africa. Virginia Steen-Mclntyre had a hard time getting her dating study on Hueyatlaco published. "The problem as I see it is much bigger than Hueyatlaco," she wrote to Estella Leopold, associate editor of Quaternary Research. "It concerns the manipulation of scientific thought through the suppression of 'Enigmatic Data,' data that challenges the prevailing mode of thinking. Hueyatlaco certainly does that! Not being an anthropologist, I didn't realize the full significance of our dates back in 1973, nor how deeply woven into our thought the current theory of human evolution has become. Our work at Hueyatlaco has been rejected by most archaeologists because it contradicts that theory, period." source.
| Scepticism vs. Debunking |
Many of those who pride themselves on being "sceptics" are not sceptics after all, but "debunkers" - fanatical believers in scientific orthodoxy, who, like the Cardinals who refused to look through Galileo's telescope, a priori know that 'paranormal' phenomena don't exist, regardless of the actual evidence. These people have their own organization: CSICOP, the "The Committee for the Scientific Investigation of Claims of the Paranormal". CSICOP started in the 70s as an actual science organization, but quickly degenerated into The Holy Inquisition of Scientific Orthodoxy, a media propaganda machine for the systematic ridicule of the paranormal. Read CSICOP and the Skeptics: An Overview to learn more about this fine organization. In the articles below, you will find many more examples of how "sceptics" use ridicule, ad hominem attacks, and even suppression of evidence to hold the forces of "irrationality" at bay. I also recommend reading Robert Anton Wilson's book New Inquisition. For a general treatise of the subject, I urge you to read Daniel Drasin's article "Zen and the art of Debunkery".
"The same scientific mind-set that thrives on high precision and critical thinking is also extremely adept at forming clever rationalizations that get in the way
of progress. In extreme cases, these rationalizations have prevented psi research from taking place at all. Ironically, the very same sceptics who have
attempted to block psi research through the use of rhetoric and ridicule have also been responsible for perpetuating the many popular myths associated with
psychic phenomena. "
Dean Radin, in The Conscious Universe, p. 206-207
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page created 06-25-97, last updated 2/18/02.