PureInsight | December 23, 2002
Parapsychology started at the end of the nineteen twenties 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 10-22. 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.
Translated from: http://www.zhengjian.org/zj/articles/2002/10/2/18751.html
