The Science Behind Psychic Phenomena and Its History

@deetoo. There is research on the issue of premonitions and what ends out happening. The research is anecdotes they collected at IONS, the center for psychic research in Petaluma California. 

My favorite, told by IONS senior scientist Dean Radin, is a woman who dreamed that a light fixture over her baby's crib would break off and crash onto her baby, killing him. In the dream, she saw a clock on the wall and noted the time.  She woke up and told her husband the dream and he replied it's just a dream, go back to sleep.  But she got up and brought the baby into bed with them. At the time in the dream, the fixture broke off and crashed into the crib.  The baby was saved and the tragic outcome of the dream was avoided. 

BTW, Harvard University has the largest collection of anecdotes about psychic phenomena gathered by William James near the turn of the 20th century. This work was done before the field of Psychology shut down psychic research due to religious and fundamentalist taboos against doing research on psychic phenomena. 

I just joined this site to be able to post, but I've been reading it for years! Not sure where to post this...any predictions on when music concerts will be back in the US? I really miss them, they are good for my mental health :( 

@jeanne-mayell, I love what you shared about the IONS research.  Whenever I haven't followed a strong gut feeling about something, I regret it.   

When I was in counseling I was reluctant to share any of my psychic or paranormal experiences, until I worked with a Jungian therapist.  (I believe my therapist would have loved the Thoth tarot with its rich symbolism.)  I didn't know this at the time, but Jung believed in the reality of spirits and psychic phenomena.  He strongly believed dreams contain nonphysical and spiritual meanings.  After Jung began having visions and a near-death experience, his research and interest in the psychic realm grew stronger.  His mother even became a medium and spoke in tongues. I read that Freud wrote a letter cautioning Jung that his interest in such phenomena could ruin his reputation as a serious scientist.  Jung basically told Freud, don't worry about it -- this is something I need to do.

@deetoo I'm a Jungian therapist (and art therapist) and work mainly with spiritual people (and trauma). I hear that alot from people, that they have been nervous to share that with their therapist, I totally get it! That's why i'm glad I can offer my open services like I do to others! I love Jung so much. 

@jeanne-mayell  do you have more info I can look at regarding how/when/why the field of psychology shut down psychic research? I've always been fasinated with psychic research, I'm a licensed therapist, Jungian-based, an art therapist as well, and work with spiritual clients. 

@michellepazicni. Nice to hear you are interested!  I love this subject. 

I put it together at one point and will have to get back to you about it.  We could open a thread about the history of psychic research.  It goes back 600 years, the investigations, starting with a famous English scientist -- the man who invented Boyle's Law.

He was a skeptic about psychic healing, but there was a celebrated psychic healer during the time.  He decided he would investigate and ended up proclaiming that the healings were real.

Fast forward to  the turn of the 20th century when what they called psychical research was a big thing.  William James, brother of writer Henry James, was a physician scientist who launched a massive investigation of anecdotal experiences people reported.  They filled some 80,000 pages of investigations.  It was done out of Harvard University.  James believed that psychic phenomena held the key to understanding the unconscious.  Freud also believed it, but didn't want to go public with his thoughts because he was afraid it would jeopardize his ability to advance his Theory of the Unconscious.  But there are letters from Freud telling James to push on. 

There were big societies of psychic research during that day.  One in the U.S. and one in England.  

Nothing came of their investigations except that they were able to document thousands of personal psychic experiences that were validated.  They had to validate every report with third parties agreeing that the experiences actually happened. 

Once a year I teach a class on the science behind E.S.P.  I will probably teach it over the next five weeks as part of my course Become Deeply Intuitive which is listed in the side bar.

I will continue this issue in a separate new thread. Do weigh in in the new thread, and I will write more after you respond. 

More coming soon, but it helps if someone replies so I get tagged to add more. The. 20th century is loaded with research, not so much the 21st century since many brave researchers have aged out as far as I know.  But I will fill in the blanks and take it up to about 2010.  Don't know what people have been doing since then. 

Copying this here from another thread @deetoo. There is research on the issue of premonitions and what ends out happening. The research is anecdotes they collected at IONS, the center for psychic research in Petaluma California. 

My favorite, told by IONS senior scientist Dean Radin, is a woman who dreamed that a light fixture over her baby's crib would break off and crash onto her baby, killing him. In the dream, she saw a clock on the wall and noted the time.  She woke up and told her husband the dream and he replied it's just a dream, go back to sleep.  But she got up and brought the baby into bed with them. At the time in the dream, the fixture broke off and crashed into the crib.  The baby was saved and the tragic outcome of the dream was avoided. 

BTW, Harvard University has the largest collection of anecdotes about psychic phenomena gathered by William James near the turn of the 20th century. This work was done before the field of Psychology shut down psychic research due to religious and fundamentalist taboos against doing research on psychic phenomena. 

@jeanne-mayell, great idea to start this new thread.  Thanks!

@michellepazicni, too bad you weren't around 35+ years ago!  Your methodology would have resonated with me.  Back then, the manner in which most of my therapists dealt with trauma primarily involved talk and cognitive therapy.  It was helpful to a point.  Fortunately the field has changed a lot since then, especially as it relates to trauma.    

@michellepazicni

Welcome to our community.

You asked about concerts.  I don't know if we have much on it with predictions but I do know that Vail, CO canceled their Bravo Vail summer outdoor music series of classical music concerts.  I believe the Hollywood Bowl did as well. Those are outdoor venues.  I would doubt that an indoor venue would open anytime soon. I guess it depends upon the state.  

I am sure the bands and artists want to be performing as well.  I do know that some are live streaming concerts.  Now that small groups are gathering together, I would expects that the whole band would be able to be together on a stage or venue and that could be live streamed.  Just an educated thought.

@dhyanaji, there is a thread entitled "Books We Recommend" under the topic "How to Cope and Even Thrive in Difficult Times."  Not sure if your recommendations should stay here or under that book thread, but just an FYI.

I am familiar with Cayce and many years ago, attended a number of workshops at his Association of Research and Enlightenment in Virginia Beach. 

@jeanne-mayell thank you!! I will look for the new thread too! I take metaphysical classes online and would love to get my PhD in metaphysics some day and do something related to psychology and healing for that thesis. It's online and not an "accreddited" school, but I already have my MA is counseling and art therapy, so I'm just doing it for me and I also think in the coming years (maybe not even in my life time) that this will all be accepted again as "real" healing.  

@deetoo lol! Yeah, I'm about to turn 37 in July haha! I had to learn how to heal a lot of my own trauma (along with other creative therapists), so it's something that is near to my heart.  I love my work so much and it's so amazing to see how alternative treatments help people heal. 

Posted by: @lovendures

@michellepazicni

I would expects that the whole band would be able to be together on a stage or venue and that could be live streamed.  

 

I play in a couple of amateur performing groups, or I did until mid-March. 

 Here's the thing: It's fine for the audience if they can view a perfomance online or in a drive-in format etc.  But the band still probably needs to rehearse beforehand.  Getting a large ensemble together in a room where everyone is exhaling and inhaling vigorously is not a good way to social distance.

  Small groups, duos, soloists--- yes that could work.  But orchestras, choruses, bands with more than a few members: risky.  

@jeanne-mayell  

This brought a few random thoughts to mind:

1)  Scientific research runs on money.  This means getting grants unless you are independently wealthy.  It's hard enough to get grant money if you're going against the grain in the conventional sciences.  But then extrapolate that to something that most people wouldn't even think should be scientifically explored---  it becomes very difficult.  Not that it can't be done.  Just that you'd be climbing uphill both in terms of logistical support and then in trying to get the work published in any high-profile journal.  (Going against the grain is also going to mean peer reviewers are likely to be inclined to shoot down your work when you try to publish.  Partly because *they* don't want to look gullible by letting novel "crazy" ideas get published. )

2) "Amateur" psychic experimentation:   When I was a kid this stuff was considered kinda "groovy" and maybe fun to mess around with.  We had a "game"  (more like a psychic experimentation kit)  called "Kreskin's ESP".   It included a pendulum, of which you could ask questions.  Also there was a set of cards with different symbols of different colors on them (like-- red square, yellow circle, green square, red triangle, etc.  )You were supposed to try to "send" the image to a partner and they were supposed to write down what they got and then you'd compare and score when you got through the cards.  I worked this with my sister and with a friend.  I could never send or receive anything from my sister.  But the friend and I got something like 70% accuracy.   It was cool.  But no one believed us. 

3) Proof of reincarnation:  I've read Brian Weiss and other writers' anecdotal accounts of reincarnation.  I would like to believe them, and I guess I believe more than disbelieve.  What frustrates me is that especially TODAY with all the info available on the internet, that the details of many of the reported past lives could be chased down and verified or refuted, but is anyone trying to do that?  Even in the 80's and 90's it seems more of this stuff could have been verified than was. 

FWIW  

@ana

No, orchestras and bands cannot get together.  ( I had thought of small bands like rock or jazz when saying that.). I understand this dilemma well as my daughter is a percussionist and music major.   Not sure how her senior year in college will go, the last few months have been a challenge since she had 4 ensemble courses which where unable to actually perform anything after the first week of March.  Difficult to perfume when you are not allowed to perform.

@lovendures  That is rough for your daughter.  I know some music students and so far they can't even have in-person lessons with their individual teachers.  Forget ensembles-- even small ones are not permitted. I hope she can motivate herself to practice-- for me it was always difficult unless I had the  pressure of an upcoming lesson, rehearsal, or performance to scare me into it. 

@michellepazicni

Depends where you are. Here in my city, one of our local favorite bands, The B-Side Players, is going to do a drive-in concert in the parking lot of our downtown baseball stadium. $50 per car, you stay in your car, they put the stage on one end of the lot, I guess.

Sorry for the tangent- @jeanne-mayell - feel free to move the question and reply as you see fit.

Posted by: @dhyanaji

Jeanne and All Like Minded Souls here on the forum: Don't know if this should go on a new and separate thread entitled, "Recommended Books" as so many of you, myself included, have recommended numerous books to read or if this should stay here as it applies to this thread.......maybe both????

William James wrote several books, but his seminal work on Psychic/Religion was entitled, "The Varieties of Religious Experience" written at the start of the last century and as I stated in my last post, one of the books named while Edgar Cayce was giving a reading and in answer to an inquiry as to what book(s) would be best read to understand the psychic world/experience. He also named, The Golden Flower for those of you who love Freud/Jung and Psychology.

As Jeanne stated, so many cutting edge researchers seemed to have aged out at the turn of this century but there is so much there in a wide variety of research into the Paranormal/Psychic worlds just waiting to be hungrily devoured. Near-Death Experiences of People and Children too, Remote Viewing, The Work of the Late, Great Robert Monroe,,,"Far Journeys, The Ultimate Journey, etc....His Institute is still operating to this day in Virginia,but probably temporarily closed due to the Pandemic....There's so much available and to share especially at this time. Mind-Blowing Experiments in China w/ Kids who did totally amazing things w/ the Power of their Minds including 'Moving Objects' and Transferring Pellets from One Closed Test Tube into another Totally Sealed Tube....So welcome to this ever-expanding Universe and enjoy all the Wonders available to you, starting right here w/ joining one of Jeanne's classes or open yourself to one of her Extraordinary One-of-a-Kind Readings. I hear that she never disappoints!!!! You were guided to this site for a reason.

Namaste'

 

 

 

FYI There is a thread called "Books and Videos that Help Get Us Through.."

Just for future reference ;-)

Namasté!