It was in my youth that I came across the research by Duke University’s Dr. JB Rhine on extra-sensory perception. Used as I was to Asian amateur seers (some very accurate) during my formative years in multi-ethnic British Malaya, I was yet surprised by people in the apparently pragmatic materialistic West investigating psychic phenomena. Wasn’t Asia the happy hunting ground for demonstrators and believers in ethereal matters?
Rhine’s work must have been officially accepted because his university became better known through his allegedly controversial studies and conclusions. Even early in the 21st century, there are clever people who just know that what is now known as parapsychology cannot be true; human psychology can, however, explain that stance of non-belief.
How important, how useful, are the findings of research into the paranormal – even when conducted under the strictures of the scientific method – against the totality of single-event, non-repeatable experiences of a multitude of people everywhere? I instance ‘thumbnail healers,’ clairvoyants who induce the materialisation of spirits to guide the living, those who demonstrate levitation, and so on.
Apart from multi-disciplinary researchers like Paul LaViolette, do Western researchers have the explanatory paradigm which could incorporate facets of ‘the teachings of contemporary mystics, the scriptures of Eastern religions, or the allegorical symbologies of ancient creation myths’ (LaViolette)?
In his ‘Genesis of the Cosmos,’ LaViolette quotes ‘Hindu Saint Lahiri Mahasaya’ as follows, in relation to ‘an immense gem-studded, golden palace that his guru Babaji has materialised for him.’ “In tune with the infinite all-accomplishing Will, Babaji is able to command the elemental atoms to combine and manifest themselves in any form … Babaji created this beautiful mansion out of his mind and is holding its atoms together by the power of his Will …”
Are claims such as this not worth investigating? Indeed, have there been open-minded professional investigators into levitation, thumbnail healing, clairvoyance? Yet, it appears that precognition, psychokinesis, and telepathy have been studied for a long period. Are the prevailing explanatory paradigms in science the professional barrier to recognition, acceptance, and further research?
It must be the KaliYuga which is responsible. If so, mental and moral regeneration cannot occur for a long time yet; the next Yuga is a long way off. However, could the Maya ’end of time’ allow some re-booting of the collective conscience in the interim?
RAJA ARASA RATNAM 