Overlooked and ignored tradition. Historiographers Chaplin and Krawiec’s (1979) comprehensive and authoritative textbook, Systems and Theories of Psychology, for example, devote only two pages of their 606 page book to psychic research and begin their treatment of the subject with J. B. Rhine’s statistical experiments with Zener cards in the 1930’s and 1940’s without mention of the extensive work begun in 1882 with the formation in London of the Society for Psychical Research (SPR) and the establishment of its American branch in 1885 co-founded by William James. The work of these two Societies into matters of telepathy, precognition, clairvoyance, psychokinesis, apparitions, hauntings, materializations and dematerializations of physical objects, mediumship, and automatisms of various forms reveals how ostensibly paranormal phenomena have been subject to positive observation and objective experimentation in the history of modern psychology (Beloff, 1993; Braude, 1997, 2003; Broad, 1962; Douglas, 1977; Fodor, 1974; Gauld, 1968, 1982).
[The] first concern [of psychic science] is to establish the occurrence of the claimed facts. If they are not due to fraud, observational error, the laws of chance, i.e., if they are found to occur, the next stage of the inquiry is to establish the reason of their occurrence, whether the known natural laws are sufficient to explain them or whether there is reason to suppose the action of unknown forces. The nature of this unknown force, the mode of its manifestation, has to be experimentally investigated (p. 316)… The two main sources of evidence in psychical research, as in biological science, are observation and experiment. (Fodor, 1974, p. 132)
Historiographer Alfred Douglas (1977) divides the history of psychical research into three period:
Period I (1882-1900) The Survey Period during which psychic research started out with a survey of the frequency of paranormal events, notably “apparitions” in everyday life. The history of psychical research officially dates with the establishment of the SPR on February 20, 1882 “to examine without prejudice or prepossession and in a scientific spirit those faculties of man, real or supposed, which appear to be inexplicable on any generally recognized hypothesis.”
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Prior to this time, the formations of such associations as the Ghost Society (1851), the Phantasmological Society (1872), the London Dialectical Society (1869-1871), and the British National Association of Spiritualists (1874) laid the foundation for much future work in this area.
Period II (1990-1930) Age of Mediums and Field Observations during which we have some of the greatest systematic and organized attempts by scholars, scientists, inventors, physicists, physicians, philosophers, magicians, and gifted amateurs to come together to observe, classify, compare, and experimentally control and manipulate spontaneous psychic phenomena, most notably trance mediumship.
Period III (1930-1947) Experiments with Statistics began when John Banks Rhine with William McDougall of Harvard University founded the Parapsychology Laboratory at Duke University and the Journal of Parapsychology.
Spiritualism
Spiritualism: Past and present. Most of the large-scale parapsychological events recorded in the history of parapsychology reportedly occurred during the later half of the nineteen century when a quasi-religious movement called Spiritualism held sway throughout Europe and the United States 150 years ago (Fodor, 1974; Judah, 1967; Moore, 1977).
Incredible as it may seem to modern readers 150 years ago millions of Americans believed that modern science had incontrovertibly established the fact that there was life after death. The chief means by which people understood this to have been established was the mediumistic séance. Here it was believed that spirits of the dead or disembodied entities from some other plane of existence that had never been alive in a physical body would take possession of an entranced or otherwise sensitive subject, called a “medium,” and through that person communicate with the living. (Taylor, 1999, p. 137
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Spiritualism was an important part of American folk culture. Spiritualism has been an important and significant part of American folk culture since its early beginnings in 1848 with the “Hydesville Rappings” and its rise in the 1890’s when as many as 11 million Americans were believed to belong to some spiritualist group (Judah, 1967) and continuing throughout the twentieth century with the trance channeled materials of famous psychics such as Arthur Ford, Edgar Cayce, Pearl Lenore Curran, Eileen Garrett, Pat Rodegast, Helen Schucman, and Jane Roberts (Hastings, 1991; Klimo, 1987).
What is spiritualism? What precisely is “Spiritualism”? According to the definition presented by the National Spiritualist Association of America which was founded in 1893 and is still operating today:
Spiritualism is the Science, Philosophy and Religion of continuous life, based upon the demonstrated fact of communication, by means of mediumship, with those who live in the Spirit World. Spiritualism is a science because it investigates, analyzes and classifies facts and manifestations, demonstrated from the spirit side of life. Spiritualism is a philosophy because it studies the laws of nature both on the seen and unseen sides of life and bases its conclusions upon present observed facts. It accepts statements of observed facts of past ages and conclusions drawn therefrom, when sustained by reason and by results of observed facts of the present day. Spiritualism is a religion because it strives to understand and to comply with the Physical, Mental and Spiritual Laws of Nature which are the laws of God. (quoted in Fodor, 1974, p. 360)
Scientific proof of survival of bodily death. Spiritualism was based on two main ideas: belief in the survival of the human personality after death and the ability of that personality to communicate with the living from “the other side” of life. Spiritualism asserted that such beliefs were not simply a matter of religious faith or mere acceptance of the writings of ancient religious traditions but were based upon empirically-verifiable, repeatable observation under controlled scientific conditions in the laboratory of the séance room. The phenomena of spiritualism may be spontaneous, but they are also recurrent and can be produced at will by talented individuals.
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The phenomena of spiritualism. Nandor Fodor (1974, p. 361) in his Encyclopedia of Psychic Science provides a catalogue of the remarkable large-scale PK effects observed to occur during the height of spiritualism in the United States, England, France, Germany, and Italy, some of which have been duplicated by the contemporary Indian holy man Sathya Sai Baba today (Haraldsson, 1987).
D.D. Home. Philosopher Stephen Braude (1997) in his book, The Limits of Influence: Psychokinesis and the Philosophy of Science describes in detail the best evidence for large-scale psychokinesis that occurred during the period of Spiritualism - particularly the case of Daniel Douglas Home (1833-1886) in which phenomena were produced that exceed any technology of the period, in locations never before visited by the medium where no opportunity existed for preparing a trick, before multiple independent witnesses (including those skeptical of them) under controlled, well-lighted conditions.
Daniel Douglas Home. One of the most extensively studied physical mediums of the nineteenth century was Daniel Douglas Home (1833-1886) for whom a great deal of outstanding evidence from many different sources (domestic and foreign) has been generated documenting remarkable phenomena that he produced under a wide range of conditions in locations he never visited before and in other settings where he had no opportunity to prepare a trick, plant an apparatus, or conceal a confederate and that exceeded any technology of the period (e.g., levitating in good light and with ample opportunity to inspect him before, during, and after the levitation). “During the entire period of D. D. Home’s mediumship – a period of almost 25 years – he was never detected in fraud of any kind,” despite careful efforts to expose them or prevent them by Nobel laureates, judges, university professors, magicians, medical doctors, government officials, members of the Royal Society, skeptics, and persistent critics (Braude, 1997, p. 65).
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Catalogue of phenomena. Braude (1997) catalogues the mind-boggling physical phenomena manifested by D.D. Home during his 25 years has a medium (and excluding the healings, messages from spirits, and trance-impersonations of dead persons known only to the sitters) (Braude, 1997, pp. 65-66).
Raps, or knocking sounds, heard not just in the séance table, but in all parts of the room, including the ceiling.
Object levitations and movements, including the complete levitation of pianos and the movement and complete levitation of tables with several persons on top.
Tables would tilt or move sharply, although objects on the table would remain stationary. Sometimes the objects would alternatively move and remain in place in response to sitter’s commands.
Alteration in the weight of objects. On command, objects would become heavier or lighter. Before Crookes measured the phenomenon with instruments, its typical manifestation was that a table would become either too heavy for one or more persons to tilt or lift, or at least more difficult to move than it was before.
The appearance of lights or luminous phenomena in various parts of the room.
The appearance of partially or fully materialized forms in various parts of the room.
Touches, pulls, pinches, and other tactile phenomena occurring while the hands of all present were visible above the table.
Auditory phenomena (e.g., voice, sounds), and also music occurring without instruments in various parts of the room. Odors, produced in the absence of any visible object with which they might be associated.
Earthquake effects, during which the entire room and its contents rock or tremble.
Hands, supple, solid, mobile and warm, of different sizes, shapes and colors. Although the hands were animated and solid to the touch, they would often end at or near the wrist and eventually dissolve or melt. Sometimes the hands were said to be disfigured exactly as the hands of a deceased ostensible communicator (unknown to Home) had been.
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The playing of an accordion, guitar, or other musical instrument, either totally untouched (and sometimes while levitated in good light), or while handled in such a way as to render a performance on the instrument impossible.
The handling of hot coals, and the transfer of incombustibility to other persons and objects.
Elongations, in which the medium grew from several inches to more than a foot.
Levitation of the medium. This is perhaps the least well documented of Home’s major phenomena, occurring (according to Home himself) only once in daylight.
Skeptical explanations are mere theoretical possibilities, not likely probabilities, to anyone familiar with the evidence. Philosopher Stephen Braude (1997) points out, “it is still too easy for skeptics to cast doubt retrospectively on these reports, usually by ignoring the reasons for having confidence in the testimony and by raising the mere theoretical possibility of error under the conditions that actually prevailed” (pp. 122-123). Nevertheless, considering (a) the nature and magnitude of these dramatic, and extraordinarily impressive large scale psychokinetic (PK) effects, (b) the conditions under which they were observed (e.g., in good light; with ample opportunity to inspect the objects before, during, and after the incidents), (c) the expertise, competence, critical attitude, and informed judgment of investigators who are familiar with conjuring, and (d) the precautions taken to rule out fraud and the use of an accomplice in the published account that was recorded immediately as phenomenon occurred, then skeptical explanations (i.e., unreliable testimony or biased reporting, faulty observation or misperception, mistaken memory or biased recollection, collective hallucination or hypnosis, fraud and sleigh-of-hand) are mere theoretical possibilities, not likely probabilities, that explain little of what can be considered serious evidence for the reality of psychokinetic phenomena that cannot be lightly dismissed by the intellectually honest and open-mined person who is familiar first-hand with the investigative reports
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Transpersonal psychology as a sign of a “New Awakening.” As the academic incarnation of America’s visionary “folk psychology,” transpersonal psychology has been a component of American popular culture since its inception and is reflected in the unprecedented spiritual activity that is now occurring in the United States. The widespread flourishing of spirituality that is occurring on the American scene is not originating from mainstream science, religion, or academic psychology, but from the hearts and minds of individuals who no longer confine themselves to single religious traditions.
The widespread social and cultural interest in “things spiritual” originates from individuals who no longer believe in the materialistic and mechanistic assumptions of conventional science and who are looking beyond biology and environment for answers to the problems of meaning and identity. We are experiencing, in the words of Eugene Taylor (1999), a “New Awakening” as a species.
The American philosopher-psychologist William James referred to such examples as an awakening to a new sense of the mystical…. The motivational psychologist Abraham Maslow referred to them in terms of both peak and plateau experiences and associated them with the emergence of the self-actualizing aspect of the personality. And the Swiss psychiatrist Carl Jung described them as an integral part of the process of individuation, which he said was a movement away from egoism toward autonomous selfhood. (Taylor, 1999, p. 6)
The two cultures of transpersonal psychology. From a naturalistic (“times-make-the-person”) viewpoint, then, the historical development of transpersonal psychology can be viewed as the contemporary face of a 400-year-old psychospiritual tradition in American popular culture. Transpersonal psychologists, “live in two cultures at once – one, the dominant culture of normative science and mainstream religion; the other, a shadow culture of mythic and visionary proportions” (Taylor, 1999, p. 13).
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Psychosynthesis as first major spiritual psychology in America’s alternative realities tradition. The system of psychology called “Psychosynthesis” developed by Italian psychiatrist Roberto Assagioli was to become the first form of alternative approaches to healing and human development that American folk psychology and its alternative realities tradition was to embrace. “Psychosynthesis became a major school in the alternative culture for work with the spiritual search that engaged so many people at the time” (Weiser & Yeomans, 1988, p. 2). Assagioli pioneered a religiously neutral, psychologically oriented, and experientially based approach to the inner realms of human consciousness that assumed that each human being is a soul as well as a personality.
Psychosynthesis adapts itself well to American culture. Although of European origin, Psychosynthesis adapted itself well to the American culture in the 1960s because it was “pragmatic, rich in techniques, democratic, experimental, and esoteric” (Weiser & Yeomans, 1988, pp. 2-3).
It was “pragmatic” in that it emphasized behavioral change as a consequence of non-drug altered states of consciousness and emphasized the conscious mind, will, and the integration of results into one’s everyday work-a-day world.
It was “rich in technique” in that it utilized a range of techniques to promote personal and spiritual growth ranging from bodywork, guided imagery, meditation, and self- hypnosis.
It was “democratic” in that neither Self nor Being were conceived to be hierarchical in structure, the inner transpersonal Self being seen as embedded in human experience and the ego was not something to be transcended but integrated by the direct and personal use of unconscious life processes.
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