3.5 Parapsychology

      The history of mankind is replete with accounts of psychic events. Pharaoh's prophetic dreams that were interpreted by Moses, the witchcraft of the Voodoo doctor, and the utilization of the I Ching by Chinese army commanders are a few typical examples. A relatively common example of psychic phenomena is that associated with the extrasensory perception of the death or illness of an individual by a loved one. The single common thread which appears to characterize the majority of psychic events is a heightened emotional state.

      It is well recognized that psychic experiments in modern laboratory environments are almost always more successful when there is a significant emotional factor such as the intrigue felt by many subjects when they first begin a series of psychic tests. One of the most successful tests conducted by Dr. Rhine in the parapsychology laboratory at Duke University involved a man and woman who became emotionally involved with each other over a period of time during which they participated in experiments in the laboratory. When the emotional factor becomes extremely accentuated, such as occurs in the trance states of consciousness generated by religious ritual, the probability of occurrence of parapsychological phenomena is greatly increased.

      The enormous difficulty associated with the subject of parapsychology is that psychic events involve both rational and irrational modes of operation. Carl Jung is the most well known scientist of this century who appreciated the fact that involvement with the Occult Sciences can create favorable conditions for the occurrence of meaningful coincidences which have both rational and irrational characteristics. One of the primary implications of this use of the term "irrational" is that events manifest for which no known rational explanation can suffice to demonstrate causality relationships between the events.

      A combination of Occult knowledge and modern psychological theories of the human mind are required in order to advance the art/science of parapsychology.