Lynne McTaggart: The Intention Experiment

A couple of chapters into Lynne McTaggart’s book, The Intention Experiment, I was disappointed. Bored and disappointed. Two emotions I certainly didn’t expect to feel while reading a book on one of my favourite topics, the intersection of science and psi.

It took me a while to figure out why I was feeling like this. It wasn’t that the book didn’t contain information from scientific studies on esoteric subjects such as meditation and intentions and healing. It did, and those studies in themselves were interesting. The studies presented do make one think about the connections between all living things and the power of the mind to affect matter. I finally realised, however, that I was battling to connect with Lynne’s writing style. It reminded me of some students’ literature reviews that I used to evaluate when I was an academic as well as of some journal articles that I would be asked to review – competent, don’t get me wrong, very competent, but “disconnected”. By this, I mean, they would present many scientific facts and figures, lists of studies and results, but ultimately not really tie these together in any coherent way to give the literature review a sense of continuity and a central critical argument (possible, even when one is trying to fairly present both sides of a debate).

I persevered with The Intention Experiment, however, and it did get better. By the time the final two or three chapters came round, linkages between sections and a critical viewpoint were emerging.

The last section of the book presents some very practical guidelines related to setting and sending an intention. I found these very helpful and probably enjoyed this section, which applied the results of the scientific studies to very specific exercises, the most. The book is further linked to Lynne’s website, where you can join a community, discuss your own and others’ experiences as well as participate in ongoing group intention experiments.

My criticisms above notwithstanding, I am still very grateful to Lynne McTaggart (and all the scientists mentioned in her book) for their continued work to understand the nature of the universe and to make it accessible to everyone.

Seeing Things? Part 5 – Reflections And Conclusions

It is possibly because of how psychic abilities are portrayed in movies and television programmes that people develop expectations of being able to see energy or spiritual entities via their physical eyesight, and give their visual experiences prominence over many other ways of interacting with the spiritual world. As a result, confusion can develop over what constitutes a proper “psychic vision”, and many common physical visual conditions can be misinterpreted as having a paranormal foundation.

Throughout this series of posts exploring the main examples of commonly misinterpreted conditions, I’ve been reflecting on the implications of unquestioningly accepting paranormal explanations for visual experiences (beyond the obvious consequences, such as those from ignoring potentially serious physical ailments like a detached retina). I’ve come to the following conclusions:

When we are focused on seeing the spiritual world via our physical eyes, we can shut down our “spiritual sight” rather than opening it. Although psychics in movies are shown seeing spiritual entities external to themselves, it is far more common for people with psychic abilities to see energy and entities via their mind’s eye, which is developed and strengthened by nurturing an internal connection to Source energy.

This connection and the flow of Source energy is blocked when we keep ourselves “trapped” in the physical by looking for external evidence of the spiritual. It is especially difficult to maintain this connection when we become desperate to see signs of the spiritual in the physical world and begin labelling every anomalous visual experience we have as paranormal.

When we stop practicing discernment in spiritual matters we do ourselves a disservice. We can be distracted by “false” paranormal occurrences at the expense of seeing what is really there. Do we really want to be so focused on the face we see in the tree bark that we miss the angel standing behind us? When we allow ourselves to open up to a real and profound spiritual connection, it becomes clear that the types of visual experiences discussed in this series of blog posts are exceptionally poor imitations of the real thing.

Not practicing discernment also has wider implications than those that affect us personally. Not only do we lose our own ability to identify real paranormal occurrences, but, like the boy who cried wolf, we also damage others’ belief and trust in us and in the paranormal itself.

Do you have any further thoughts on the implications of non-discernment in spiritual matters? I’d love to hear them – please leave a comment below!

This is Part 5 of 5 in a series exploring common visual experiences often mistaken for paranormal occurrences. The other posts in the series are as follows:
* Part 1 - Floaters
* Part 2 - Flashes Of Light
* Part 3 - Pareidolia
* Part 4 - Retinal Fatigue & Afterimages

Are Skeptics Their Own Worst Enemies?

The experimenter effect, or the effect that the observer has on the observed (whether that be people or atoms), is well known in many areas of science. The field of parapsychology is no exception. Certain researchers seem to be psi-inhibitory – their presence consistently prevents the appearance of any evidence for psi. On the other hand, psi-conducive researchers consistently obtain results demonstrating evidence for psi. While research into the characteristics of the two groups is ongoing, it does seem as if psi-conducive experimenters are in general more positive in their attitudes towards psi than their psi-inhibitory counterparts.

Does this imply that it is possible that an attitude of skepticism towards the paranormal and metaphysical can actually block any such phenomena from occurring? I would argue that it can. The sceptical view, however, raises the question whether some researchers consistently don’t find psi because it doesn’t exist. Like any other scientific field, parapsychology is judged on replicability of results. Although all scientific fields experience some inconsistency in findings, parapsychology has perhaps had the most difficulty in overcoming this and establishing a credible knowledge base. It remains one of the field’s most vexing problems.

Energy: Some Introductory Thoughts

Us woo-woo folk often like to talk about energy. Some people can see energy in the form of auras. Others can feel energy. Still others can work with it, using energy for example to heal. To me, energy is a tangible thing. I can’t see full human auras (yet!), although I can sometimes see a faint oily/smoky aura around plants, especially trees. My main experience of energy is one of feeling it physically. For example, anger rolls out of people like a strong wave and hits me hard and square on in the chest. It feels like the person has physically shoved me, even though they haven’t touched me with their hands. This happens even if the person concerned is not actually angry with me, but is directing their anger at someone else or at a situation that has frustrated them. Being around an emotionally needy person, on the other hand, feels like I am being coated in a gooey, sticky energy, almost like they are literally trying to bind me to them. And nervous people seem to give out very jagged, spiky energy. It feels all over the place, like little lightning bolts jabbing into me from all directions.

So what is this energy that I and others experience? Is it one of the already known forms of energy recognised by physics? Or is it something completely different? Attempts to identify the nature of psychic energy, or psi, and to prove its existence have been a jumble of successes and failures and contradictory results. All in all, for something that is an accepted part of daily reality for a lot of people, a definitive answer remains elusive.

How do you experience energy in your daily life?

Psi What?!

Academics love definitions (I should know – I used to be one!). While it is sometimes difficult to define something very complex, I thought the following categorisation of Psi by Caroline Watt (from the Koestler Parapsychology Unit at Edinburgh University) was helpful in outlining the main areas of interest in the field.

The Greek word psyche means mind or soul, and it is therefore no surprise that the Greek letter from which this word springs, Psi, is used by parapsychologists as a catch-all term to describe various phenomena that are unexplainable by current scientific means. Psi encompasses two main categories of phenomena, each of which is further broken down into subcategories:

1. Extrasensory Perception (ESP) refers to the transfer of information between people without the use of any of the five accepted senses. ESP consists of:
1. Telepathy: Communication directly between people’s minds.
2. Clairvoyance: Acquiring information about someone or something from a physical source that is present in the environment yet concealed from sight (for example, information contained in a sealed envelope).
   
3. Precognition: Obtaining information regarding a future event.


2. Psychokinesis (PK) refers to the ability to influence a person or object seemingly using thought instead of any known physical energy form. PK consists of:
1. Macro-PK: Affecting the physical environment on a scale large enough to be visible, such as levitation or bending a spoon.
2. Micro-PK: Affecting the physical environment on a scale that can only be detected by statistical means, such as statistically significant changes in a random number generator that correspond to the intent of the person operating the machine.
3. Bio-PK: Influencing another’s physiology, such as occurs in energy healing for example.