Psychic Pitfalls

The wonders of scientific , magic have gripped the thinking of modern man. Parapsychological studies of the occult sciences, and the modern university age of psy­chical research have stimu­lated man's craving for magic, and for some scientific miracle that might provide a sudden mystic solution to his hor­rifying hutnan problems. It is the old cry for the wand of the magician.

A great similarity exists between our magico-scientific age and the comparable, though less dramatic, periods in past his­tory, when the magician, the witch doctor, or the shaman dominated ancient civiliza­tions. This persistent inner craving for magic predisposes man's inward bent to­ward credulity.

Jean-Paul Valabrega, of the French na­tional scientific research center in Paris, in an article in the World Health Organiza­tion Newsletter, WHO, stated:

Though science and magic are opposed, each offers satisfaction to these human cravings [the desire for power and the desire for protection or security] with the result that, in the public mind, one is confused with the other.'

Magical science and scientific magic both display their awesome wonders before their worshiping devotees. Credulous man, hyp­notized by the spell of the wonder worker, all too readily accepts magic's metaphysical theories as though they were scientific facts. He turns to psychic science, hoping for some occult way of escape from the con­finements and limitations of this earthly life which now seems sooner or later to be doomed to extinction. If by any means he can escape this material body, which is sub­ject to such destruction and disintegration, and in some immortal spirit world hurl his self-immortalized life defiantly into the face of annihilation, he intends to do so.

Parapsychology, the study of extrasen­sory perceptions, and of those psychic phe­nomena that are outside the conceptual schemes of natural science, has gained con­siderable prestige and popularity in these uncertain times. Psychical science purports to apply foolproof laboratory methods of investigation and of scientific objectivity to its tests of the various manifestations of spiritistic phenomena. Spiritualism, itself the focal center of psychic investigations, enjoys a new prestige of widening influ­ence.

Waldemer Kaempffert, on the fiftieth anniversary of the founding of the Amer­ican Society for Psychical Research, spoke of parapsychology's progress, of its im­proved controls, and its increasing favor. "Much of it is accepted that was once re­jected." He affirmed that parapsychology "goes far beyond extrasensory perception, far beyond psycho-kinesis," and that the fundamental question with which it is con­cerned is whether the spiritual or the materialistic interpretation of the universe is the true one. He felt that the new ap­proach to the solution of this century-old debate could well come "through parapsy­chology." It not only probes the subcon­scious and the unconscious but it also tests the reality of the existence of separate spirit entities, not accounted for by the secondary personalities of the medium. In view of these factors, he voiced the feeling of many psychical investigators that "para­psychology ought to become the most im­portant of all sciences."

Opinion of Psychic Scientists

The fact that some psychic scientists an­ticipate that their spiritistic experiments will provide unquestioned scientific evi­dence of the survival of man has tremen­dous implications in its possible impact on human life and thought. Already investi­gators have been confronted with what they have described as "excellent evidence of identity," which evidence they believe scientifically verifies the genuineness of purported communications from suppos­edly disembodied human spirits that have survived death. Any so-called scientific spir­itistic hypothesis presents modern Christendom with some challenging questions about the grave and those who have passed its portals.

All of this is an effort to increase spon­taneous spirit communications on the part of families and individuals by making the voices of the spirit-world entities more eas­ily accessible to the general public. Ernest Thompson foresees the day when "'the new outlook which scientific spirit com­munication will bring to humanity will hasten the advent of that glorious age when terrestrial society will be united with celes­tial society, as realistically as the radio now unites the peoples of the Western and Eastern hemispheres.' "

Psychoanalyzing the Spirits

The American Psychical Institute has recently conducted some unique experi­ments to determine the independent per­sonality of a "spirit control." Hereward Carrington, the distinguished director of the institute, describes the scientific tests that were given to "Uvani," the alleged spirit control of the famous "sensitive" Mrs. Ei­leen Garrett, who is the president of the Parapsychology Foundation.

"Uvani" cooperated with the scientists by subjecting himself to experiments em­ploying both "psychological and psychoan­alytic technique" and "scientific instru­ments of precision.""

The tests were conducted to determine whether "Uvani" was actually a separate spirit entity possessing his own individual personality, independent of that of the medium, or whether he was merely an ac­tive dramatization of the medium's sub­conscious mind. The scientists sought to ascertain by psychological analyses and by instrumental tests what mental and emo­tional differences existed between the me­dium and her alleged control.

The assumption of scientism with re­gard to such tests is that if a single instance of independent character of the control is definitely proved, then communication is an established fact.

The psychological and instrumental tests of the "Uvani" personality of Mrs. Gar­rett's spirit control were based on the sound principle that no two human beings have precisely the same mental and emotional experiences in life. Accordingly various "stimulus words" designed by psychoana­lysts were used to determine the compara­tive reactions of the "Uvani" control and the medium, Mrs. Garrett. Jung's standard 100-word list was used in the Garrett ex­periments. In this test the subject is asked to reply with "reaction words" indicating the thought which the "stimulus words" have injected into his or her thinking. Other personality tests, including the Bern­reuter Personality Inventory, Page's "Be­havior Analysis," and the Thurs tone Scale for measuring attitude toward the church, were applied to the "Uvani" personality while the medium was in a trance state. The same tests were also applied to Mrs. Garrett in a waking state.

It was found that the scores of the me­dium, who was tested in a normal state, and of "Uvani," her control, who was tested while the medium was in a trance state, indicated a rather significantly wide divergence. "Our tests," observes Carring­ton, "seem to indicate consistently two di­verging and opposite personalities, as given by the scores of Mrs. Garrett and 'Uvani.'""

Lie Detector Tests for the "Spirits"

The galvanometer, or lie detector, meas­ures the emotionally determined amount of electric current which flows through the body as a basis for judging the extent of the emotional reactions of the subject taking the test. The value of the lie detector in crime analysis has been the fact that the slightest emotional changes are instantly detected and recorded, by the electrical variations resulting therefrom. These are marked in degrees so that the extent of these emotional variations can be read.

"Uvani" willingly subjected himself to lie detector tests, which combined the in­strumental recording of emotional reac­tions with the psychoanalytical question­ing procedure. After the medium had been properly connected with the lie detector and had entered the trance state, the me­dium's "control" was asked a list of test ques­tions. In a normal condition the medium would speak for herself, whereas in the trance state the responses would be made by her "familiar spirit," or "control," or by any other "spirit-entity" that might be called upon to communicate through her.

Commenting on the findings of these lie detector tests, Mr. Carrington states: "Their galvanic, time and word-reactions are cor­respondingly dissimilar. 'Blocking' usually occurs over different words, showing their emotional reactions to be extraordinarily different."" Carrington describes "Uvani," the "familiar-spirit" control, as a dignified and philosophical entity who "stoutly maintains the reality of his own identity."

In addition to the galvanic tests of the "Uvani" control, experiments were con­ducted to obtain galvanometer deflections from other entities. "Uvani's" cooperation was solicited so that he would step aside temporarily "and allow the communicating entity to assume direct control of the medium's body. In such case, any emotion experienced by 'him' would be registered di­rectly upon the medium's organism, and be detected by the galvanometer. In a num­ber of instances such 'third entities' did in fact seemingly assume direct control, the result being that a number of galvanic de­flections were obtained, differing greatly from the normal Mrs. Garrett, on the one hand, and from `Uvani,' on the other.'

Lie detector data were thus secured from other spirit entities, independent of the "Uvani" personality, which communicated through the medium. Carrington observes:

It is interesting to note that quite extraordinary differences were found to exist between all the various entities. Not only did Mrs. Garrett and `Uvani' differ from one another, but the various control-entities were found to differ radically from both of them! We seemed to be dealing with a number of entirely separate and distinct person­alities! Were we in fact doing so? Only a detailed, statistical analysis could hope to solve this question."

"It will be observed," says Carrington, "that Mrs. Garrett and `Uvani' did differ from one another fundamentally—as shown by both galvanometer and time reac­tions." "

The analysis of the finds "seem to show that two individuals, and not one, were actually 'communicating' at the time," be­cause "the responses to these key words were very different in the two—Mrs. Gar­rett and `Uvani' (as well as in the other non-Garrett entities), as shown by the re­action words, reaction times and galvanom­eter deflections." "

In one series of tests Mr. Carrington in­forms us that more than two thousand re­action words were obtained from Garrett and the non-Garrett entities. In thirty-two instances identical reaction words were obtained, but in all the other nearly two thousand instances different reaction words were obtained. More than three quarters of the galvanic deflections for all non-Garrett entities differed radically from the Garrett deflections. In the majority of instances the deflection was in an opposite direction.

The significance of all these findings and scientific experiments is obviously very im­portant to the spiritistic hypothesis, for if it can be scientifically established that there are mediumistic "spirit controls" who are not merely secondary personalities of the mediums, but rather separate entities, it is quite understandable that many, without taking the pains to determine the nature of these entities, will accept the spiritistic hypothesis in toto.

It is at just this point of identification of the spirit-personalities in question, that a pseudoscientific philosophy of psychic survival and intercommunication departs from the actual scientific facts determined by psychical research. This fact cannot possibly be overemphasized in view of the inherent danger of a possible mass surren­der to spiritism on the basis of its support from psychical scientism.

Carrington, in summarizing his conclu­sions, writes:

For my own part—while still holding my final judgment in suspense—I must say that our experi­mental tests seem to have furnished material which is at least indicative of survival—which in itself is a conclusion of no little significance?

If psychic research, having once estab­lished the reality of the existence of inde­pendent spirit entities, should without any solution to the problem of their identifica­tion, take for granted that they must be ipso facto the spirits of the departed dead, modern Christendom may well find itself confronted with the greatest psychic pitfall of all time.