Paranormal experience

Christian piety Albert G. Mackey, Encyclopedia of Freemasonry and Its Kindred Sources, Philadelphia, 1917, pp. 397-401,482-491,752-755, 865—866 Rosemary Ellen Gulley, Harpers Encyclopedia of Mystical and Paranormal Experience, New York, 1991, pp. 518—522. 

Exactly what is a paranormal experience or phenomenon Para is derived from a Latin term for beyond. So paranormal means beyond normal, or things that do not fit what we experience through our five senses alone and which do not follow the laws we observe in nature and in science. Paranormal experiences and phenomena run the gamut from the awesome and marvelous, such as angels and miracles, to the downright terrifying, such as vampires and werewolves. 

We are ruled by technology and science. Yet, we still have paranormal experiences very similar to those of our ancestors. Because these occurrences do not fit neatly into science and technology, many people think they are illusions, and there are plenty of skeptics always ready to debunk the paranormal and reinforce that idea. 

In roughly the past 100 years, though, some scientists have studied the paranormal and attempted to find scientific evidence for it. Psychic phenomena have proven difficult to observe and measure according to scientific standards. However, lack of scientific proof does not mean paranormal experiences do not happen. Courageous scientists are still looking for bridges between science and the supernatural. 

I have concluded from my studies and experiences that invisible dimensions are layered upon our world, and that many paranormal experiences occur when there are openings between worlds. The doorways often open at unexpected times. You take a trip, visit a haunted place, or have a strange dream—and suddenly reality shifts. You get a glimpse behind the curtain that separates the ordinary from the extraordinary. 

Rosemary Ellen Guiley, Harper s Encyclopedia of Mystical
[Pg.125]

If apparently paranormal experiences happen to the majority of us, does that mean that most of us are deluded The fact that many people believe something does not make it true. But it is possible to go just so far in refuting alternative, normal explanations of apparent psi with spontaneous case collections. Of necessity, psychical research moved into an experimental stage so that specific alternative theories could be specifically ruled out. 

Note that while this is probably the cause of most deja vu, experiences, some kinds of deja vu, may actually represent paranormal experience, (back)... 

Every day and night people have experiences they can t explain. For many people these events are life changing. Their comfort zone of what they can accept as real is put to the test. It takes only one such experience for people to question the reality of the mysterious worlds that might exist beyond the one we live in. Perhaps you haven t encountered the unknown, but you have an intense curiosity about it. Either way, by picking up this book, you ve started an adventure to explore and learn more, and you ve come to the right place The book you hold has been written by a leading expert in the paranormal—someone who understands unusual experiences and who knows the answers to your questions. 

My personal experiences are behind my lifelong study of the paranormal. Like many children I had invisible playmates when I was very young, and I saw strange lights in the yard and woods that I instinctively knew were the nature spirits who lived there. Children seem to be very open to paranormal phenomena, but their ability to have these experiences often fades away as they become more involved in the outside world, or, perhaps, as adults tell them not to believe in what they experience, that it s only in their imagination. Even when I was very young, I was puzzled that other people would tell me with great authority that I did not experience what I knew I did. 

The books in this series will introduce you to these exciting and mysterious subjects. You ll learn many things that will astonish you. You ll be given lots of tips for how to explore the paranormal on your own. Paranormal investigation is a popular field, and you don t have to be a scientist or a full-time researcher to explore it. There are many things you can do in your free time. The knowledge you gain from these books will help prepare you for any unusual and unexpected experiences. 

The results of our experiment would indicate that psilocybin (and LSD and mescaline, by analogy) are important tools for the study of the mystical state of consciousness. Experiences previously possible for only a small minority of people, and difficult to study because of their unpredictability and rarity, are now reproducible under suitable conditions. The mystical experience has been called by many names suggestive of areas that are paranormal and not usually considered easily available for investigation (e.g., an experience of transcendence, ecstasy, conversion, or cosmic consciousness) but this is a realm of human experience that should not be rejected as outside the realm of serious scientific study, especially if it can be shown that a practical benefit can result. Our data would suggest that such an overwhelming experience, in which a person existentially encounters basic values such as the... 

First, as psychology deals more and more with the phenomena of altered states of consciousness, it will more and more have to deal with phenomena that do not fit well in a conceptual scheme that says awareness is only a product of the brain. Experiences of apparently paranormal abilities like telepathy, of feeling that one s mind leaves one s body, of mystical union with aspects of the universe outside oneself, of supernormal knowledge directly given in altererd states, fit more comfortably into schemes that do not assume that awareness is only a function of the brain. I have nothing against competent attempts to fit such phenomena into our dominant western scientific framework, but the attempts I have seen so far have been most inadequate and seem to work mainly by ignoring major aspects of these altered states phenomena. Thus the assumption that awareness is only a function of the brain, especially as it becomes implicit, tends to distort our view of real phenomena that happen in altered states, we dismiss their possible... 

They later wrote that they experienced what psychologists would call a kind of shared psychotic break, with one of them becoming reactive and the other paranoid schizophrenic, a state that lasted for several weeks. Many unusual paranormal phenomena accompanied this state synchronicities, telepathic communication between them, even sightings of what seemed like a UFO, and the apparent partial creation of some kind of hyperspatial communication device. One could say it was as much a shamanic madness initiation, a mythic journey to the outer reaches of the mind, as it was schizophrenia. The two intrepid explorers wrote a complex and difficult book on their experiences and theories, which also included a new mathematical theory of time wave based on the I Ching. 

For some paranormal insights into Amanita, see Puharich, Andrija (1974), The Sacred Mushroom, Doubleday, Garden City, NY., in which psychics report some rather bizarre experiences with these mushrooms -communication with discamate entities describing ancient Egyptian religious rites, etc. 

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