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The Mysteries of the Human Body: A Brief Introduction to Basic Experiments in Parapsychology (Part I):
Wu Yuan
(Clearwisdom.net) Parapsychology started at the end of the 1920s as a new
experimental psychology. Its purpose was to verify through empirical science the
existence of potential supernormal capabilities of the human body and the
factors affecting these capabilities. The potential capabilities of the human
body are also called supernormal capabilities, and in the west they are called
Psi phenomena, which means the unknown. The Psi phenomena studied fell mainly
into two major categories: extrasensory perception and psychokinesis.
Extrasensory perception refers to the ability of obtaining information without
going through the sensory organs (including telepathy, clairvoyance, remote
viewing, precognition and retrocognition). Psychokinesis refers to the ability
to influence and/or manipulate the external material world without using ones
hands or feet (including teleportation, manipulating electrical instruments with
ones mind intent, and so on).
Over 70 years of research have verified the existence of these supernormal
capabilities. Scientists have come to understand more and more clearly that all
these supernormal capabilities are rooted in a mysterious psychological energy,
which modern physiology has already come to recognize. In order to lift the
mysterious veil over the human body's potential capabilities, one has to break
through the long existing barriers imposed by modern science and establish a new
approach to view the human body and the universe.
At the end of 2001, "The Fundamental Study of Parapsychology" was compiled
and published by the well-known parapsychologist, K.R. Rao. This electronic book
summarizes the experiments in the field of parapsychology and then analyzes the
results. From examining this book we can see, ability by ability, the progress
of the research in the field of parapsychology and discuss together the
mysteries of the human body.
1. Clairvoyance: The Pearce-Pratt Experimental Series
Clairvoyance refers to the ability of viewing a hidden object or image when
separated by a wall or an object. The classical experiment in this area is the
Pearce-Pratt Experimental Series.
In 1934, Dr. J.B. Rhine, from Duke University in the United States, designed
five cards that were called the Extrasensory Testing Cards. There was a simple
pattern on each card; a circle, a square, a cross, wavy lines (running water) or
a star.
Using these five cards, he and his assistant at that time, Dr. J.G. Pratt,
carried out a series of experiments on a student, H. E. Pearce, Jr., who claimed
to be clairvoyant.
The experiments were carried out 34 times during a time period between August
1933 and March 1934. Five sets of cards (a total of 25 cards) were used in each
experiment. The experimental subject, Pearce, Jr., sat in a small room in the
library of Duke University, while the assistant Pratt was sitting in front of a
desk in a building 100 or 200 yards away from where he could see Pearce. Before
the experiment started, Pratt stacked the cards together randomly and put them
on the right side of the desk with the side of the card with patterns facing
down. A book was also placed in the center of the desk.
As soon as the experiment began, Pratt picked up a card with his right hand
and placed it on the book with the pattern facing down. At the same time, Pearce
attempted to perceive what the pattern on that card was. A minute later, Pratt
used his left hand to move the card from the book to the left side of the desk
with the pattern still facing down, and then picked up the next card with his
right hand. With one card being picked each minute, this process continued until
all 25 cards had been taken. The cards strictly stayed face down during the
whole process, and the patterns were never visible for either Pearce or Pratt to
see.
Upon finishing one round of the experiment, Pearce would seal a copy of his
answers recorded in the order they were drawn into an envelope and give it to
Dr. Rhine. Pratt also recorded in order the patterns of the cards that he
attempted to perceive (guess). He then made a copy and gave it to Dr. Rhine in
person. Dr. Rhine opened both envelopes himself and performed statistical
analysis on the result of Pearce's clairvoyance. Pratt and Pearce also made
comparisons using the records they each kept and compared them with Dr. Rhine's
statistical results to check if there were any errors made. The whole process of
the experiment was precise, thorough, and the statistical results obtained were
accurate.
The statistical analysis showed that in 74 rounds of experiments and in the
1850 cards drawn, the accuracy of Pearce's answers was over 30%. This far
exceeded the statistical probability for random guessing (20%), and the level of
significance reached 1022. To put it plainly, random guessing without
the capability of clairvoyance could never possibly reach 30% accuracy. (Rhine,
1934, 1937) This experiment has been widely recognized in the field of
psychology and Dr. Rhine was also consequently praised as the father of
contemporary parapsychology.
Many different scientists have been able to duplicate this experiment and the
same results had been reached. This further objectively verifies the existence
of clairvoyance.
Why was Pearce able to see things through a wall from a distant location?
This issue, which scientists think is mysterious and difficult to solve, might
be explained by some from the world of cultivators in this way. They would point
out that the front section of the human's pineal body is equipped with the
entire structure of a human eye, which modern medicine calls a vestigial eye. A
channel or passageway located slightly above and between one's eyebrows connects
to this eye in front of the pineal body. If a person, instead of using his flesh
eyes to see, is able to see with this eye directly through this channel, he
could have the supernormal ability of clairvoyance. This is called the Tianmu,
Third Eye, or Celestial Eye by the world of cultivators. It is very possible
that Pearce used his Tianmu to perceive the cards. In that case there would be
no mystery why he was capable of such penetrative vision.
References
1. Rhine, J. G. Extrasensory Perception. Boston: Boston Society for Psychic
Research, 1934.
2. Rhine, J. G. Some basic experiments in Extrasensory Perception-a
background, Journal of Parapsychology, 1937,1,70-80.
3. Russell, W. Examination of ESP records for displacement effects. Journal
of Parapsychology, 1943,7,104-17.
From: http://www.pureinsight.org/pi/articles/2002/12/23/1271.html |