Toward a Critical Parapsychology: Deconstructing the Paranormal

2023

https://us02web.zoom.us/j/88366772390?pwd=YkZSdlNMb0dNaEFmQzAyVUtZWWhJZz09&fbclid=IwAR3NF4VUpdGbEakgnOuVLIYMTezVgL3Sq2hyCNDqLWCxgx4UdfwhUngAbio#success Announcement of the 2nd session of the series "Parapsychology: philosophical and poetic approaches", 24 March 2023. Telepathy, telekinesis, out-of-body experiences, near-death experiences, foresight, clairvoyance: they are and have always been reported. All too often, debates about their (lack of) reliability ensue. A scientific approach is limited. Sceptics may or may not outweigh believers. In the end, undecidability seems to ‘settle’ the issue. It remains a pity that undisputed scientific empiricism usually determines the condition of possibility. The latter roots on its turn in an uncontested notion of the human ‘subject’. A subject, so the argument goes, can be rational. Therefore, it can decide the nature and criteria for truth. Something is ‘true’ if a rational human subject can see that it must be true. But what if the rational subject is itself problematic? What if the subject can perceive the world from other positions of consciousness, culminating in paranormal experiences? What if, nonetheless, scientific research confirms the veridical character of some of these experiences? There have always been philosophers and poets who have accepted the reality of these phenomena and have taken the challenge of putting into question the rational subject. Philosophers, by not allowing classical empiricism (Locke, Hume, etc.) to exhaust science and by extending ‘knowing’ or ‘knowledge’ beyond the borders of human control. Poets, by harvesting the fruits of wild imagination. (Cf Charles Bukowski: “Poetry is what happens when nothing else can.”) In this monthly series of online 90 minutes meetings, a variety of speakers will introduce philosophers and poets who offer unexpected perspectives on parapsychological phenomena. After the introduction (15 minutes), an invited respondent will react, and the floor will be open for dialogue among all participants. The aim of this series is: to open and facilitate alternative approaches to research and thinking about reality to inspire further reading and studying on the debated subjects to stimulate new global and transdisciplinary networks The aim of our sessions is not to share personal experiences. It is rather to enable understanding: through philosophical accounts and poetic approaches. A Telegram group (the same as a WhatsApp group) functions as a platform for exchanging ideas and information. Speakers are invited to propose a short document (a short text, a video, a podcast, etc.). This document will be shared amongst the audience in advance of the session. The announcements are made by email, in which you will find the zoom link and a document for the next session. Time slot: 19-20h30 CET (=20-21h30 Beirut) . NB weekdays vary! 16 February 2023 Introduction: philosophical roots of parapsychology. Speaker: Hans Gerding (Netherlands). Response: Rico Sneller 24 March 2023 Nature and Spirit are One. Schelling and Healing. Speaker: Christopher Satoor. Response: Gianluigi Segalerba 28 April 2023 A Metaphysics of Assumption: Hans Driesch (1867-1941) Speaker: Rico Sneller. Response: Roel Teeuwen 19 May 2023 The Unconscious Roots of Healing and Inspiration: Carl du Prel Speaker: Rico Sneller. Response: Natalia Abdel Fattah 23 June 2023 Doing Justice to All Experience. William James’ Radical Empiricism. Speaker: Hein van Dongen. Response: Mieke Heijerman 31 August 2023 Near Death Experiences and the Paranormal Speaker: Rudolf Smit (Netherlands). Response: Huguette Beyens 29 September 2023 Carl Gustav Jung (1875-1961) and Parapsychology Speaker: Hans Gerding. Response: Theo Verheggen 27 October 2023 Transpersonal Psychology and Therapy Speaker: Tatjana Kochetkova. Response: Iman Ibrahim. 17 November 2023 Theosophy and Parapsychology Speaker: Wim Leys. Response: Meera Chakravorty 22 December 2023 The Soul and Reincarnation, Surviving Death. Speaker: Titus Rivas. Response: Ann Van Sevenant

Spirituality Matters! The ASPSI e-Newsletter, 2012

Science, the paranormal and spirituality form a spectrum of sorts, ranging from the physical world and the logic that science uses to describe and probe it, to consciousness and intuition where the roots of the paranormal and spirituality can be found. The paranormal mediates between our scientific and spiritual worldviews, just as consciousness seems to bridge the enormous chasm between our internal mental image of self and the external material world. Therefore, a scientific study of paranormal phenomena seems the best way to understand spirituality at a higher level of physical reality than just our normal intuitive feelings for the world in which we live, our purpose in the world and how we interact with it. Within this context, the scientific study of the paranormal can be broken down into several historical periods. Each period coincides with specific developments and advances in scientific worldviews that are sometimes separated by paradigms shifts, both large and small. This fact is important because a new change in scientific worldview has recently begun to emerge and it coincides with new advances in the scientific study of consciousness which will greatly enhance and alter our worldview of the paranormal and spirituality.

International Journal of Recent Academic Research, 2020

The events which cannot be explained by our known five senses-hearing, seeing, smelling, touching, and tasting are called paranormal events. These are mysterious events happening frequently across the world and these simply defy logic Paranormal events are, still, a mystery. These events are sporadic in nature and are frequently happening across the globe and have intrigued intelligentsia. With so much work going across the world to understand the paranormal phenomena, we are still wondering whether Paranormality is a myth or reality. In this article, I try to analyze this question keeping the probing totally unbiased and rational. I approach the question with research in favour and also against the question, giving fair weightage to arguments in favour and also against Please read on.

A Companion to Epistemology, ed. Dancy and Sosa, 1992

The International Journal of Psychoanalysis, 2019

Richard Reichbart's book, The Paranormal Surrounds Us, will appeal to the general reader, parapsychologists, literary critics, psychoanalysts and psychotherapists, and anthropologists. Paranormal experiences are universal in that most people have had a paranormal experience, an anomalous experience or an altered state of awareness. Those who haven't probably know someone who has. For the psychoanalyst and psychotherapist interested in the paranormal, this book will be a page-turner. Reichbart presents a wide-ranging collection of fascinating examples of paranormal communication in well-known works of literature and film, lively vignettes of psychoanalytic process, with emphasis on his own work and the work of Jule Eisenbud, and the overall influence of culture, with a chapter on Native American culture that grew out of his experience as a young lawyer working with the Navajo before he became a psychoanalyst. He is bold as he not only discusses telepathic communication but also presents his observations of more controversial examples of paranormal communication (psi) such as thoughtography, apparitions, premonitions, remote viewing, psychokinesis and the inclusion of magic. He also discusses the relationship and connection between psi and magic, as seen in both Ingmar Bergmann's movie The Magician and Navajo ceremonies. Moreover, he presents a detailed exposition of the paranormal in the thoughtography experiments conducted by Eisenbud, his first analyst, with Ted Serios who produced photographs on Polaroid film through psychokinesis. Psychoanalysts usually avoid the more controversial aspects of psi, but Reichbart does not. He has spent years working with the fear that people normally have when they encounter these experiences. One of the purposes of his book is to present Eisenbud's work for reconsideration, as he was deeply dismayed by how it has been denigrated. When Reichbart began his own analytic training, he knew how unsafe it could be for a young analytic candidate to show an interest in psi. For many years, he stopped publishing the results of his psychic research and continued his work privately. This book is the result. The Paranormal Surrounds Us presents compelling examples of the paranormal communication that operates unconsciously in all relationships and that can be accessed more easily by some people than others. First, I will present examples of psi from the book's Section I, Psi Phenomena in Literature, specifically from Shakespeare's Hamlet and Tolstoy's Anna Karenina, and, next, from Section II on Psi Phenomena and Psychoanalysis. I will focus on Reichbart's informative history of the paranormal in hypnosis and psychic research, its effect on Freud and the development of psychoanalysis, how psi appears in the psychoanalytic process, and some ideas about how psi phenomena are communicated. Third, I will discuss Section III on Psi Phenomena and Culture, focusing on Reichbart's description of the multiple roles of the psychic in traditional Navajo society and the relationship of magic and psi in both Navajo culture and medieval culture as seen in the film The Magician, based on G.K. Chesterton's play Magic.

2022

Religious studies and concomitant fields within the humanities have long ignored paranormal phenomena as viable data for theory building. This thesis is an attempt to correct such an error and provide a step towards taking seriously the experiential reports of persons who recount anomalous and paranormal happenings that defy a materialist metaphysics. Post- Enlightenment societies have largely presupposed a working metaphysical model of materialism through which all acquired knowledge must be filtered. This model is insufficient to explain all the material data including paranormal phenomena. The assumption that this model contains the only method(s) that can assess data leads to a form of epistemological marginalization by which all other societies’ beliefs and experiences are subjected. The methodological approach of phenomenology and the accompanying tool known as “bracketing” are challenged and argued to be a reinforcement of the metaphysical paradigm of materialism. Other epistemological approaches are considered that advocate for more open ontological possibilities. An examination of the alien abduction phenomenon and the related research findings of several academics is presented with an emphasis upon the objective nature of the phenomenon. Related research funded by the US government pertaining to anomalous findings such as UFOs, poltergeist activity, remote viewing, telekinesis, psychokinesis, prognostication, and other psi-related abilities are discussed as they relate to the alien abduction phenomenon. The primary intention of this thesis is to showcase the serious attention that paranormal phenomena merit within the academy and the implications for incorporating such data, especially within the discipline of religious studies. New approaches and theoretical frameworks could potentially arise as a result of engaging with the possibility that paranormal phenomena are real and accepting that our current scientific understanding of the world around us is in some ways incomplete.

2003 Annual Conference Proceedings of the Academy of Religion and Psychical Research, 2003

Over the last century and a half, the successes of science in explaining our normally sensed world have led to further attempts to expand science into the realm of the para normal and explain the para-normally sensed world of psychic phenomena. These attempts have helped to establish a greater and growing variety of psychical experiences as well as offer a real challenge to our traditional concepts of religious experience. Within this context, science first came into contact with the paranormal with modern spiritualism, then to parapsychology and finally to paraphysics and a new interest in consciousness and spirituality. At each stage of this evolutionary process, changes in the scientific attitude toward the paranormal coincide with changes in the evolution of attitudes in normal science as well as changes in religious attitude.

Journal of Scientific Exploration, 2012

Readers of Dr. Tony Jinks's first major literary offering to the world of parapsychology might be surprised that, in his Preface, he makes two salient points that are not to be taken lightly: First, he criticizes as "facile" and witless the skeptical assumption that paranormal beliefs and experiences can simply be attributed to drunkenness, stupidity, gullibility, or emotionalism, and second, he claims that he is not an expert writing for experts. Regarding the former comment, it does justice to the book to state that Dr. Jinks is not only accusing lay persons of making these casual assumptions, but he targets professionals (e.g., clinicians) who base those same inaccurate diagnoses on mainstream psychological theory. My experience from over a decade in the field suggests that this form of "professionalism" is not only generally manifest in the aims underpinning the psychology of parapsychology, but I also see a new form of radical skepticism surfacing that i...