Edgar D. Mitchell - Psychic Exploration: A Challenge for Science, Understanding the Nature and Power of Consciousness

PSYCHIC

EXPLORATION

A CHALLENGE FOR SCIENCE

PSYCHIC

EXPLORATION

A CHALLENGE FOR SCIENCE

UNDERSTANDING THE NATURE AND POWER OF CONSCIOUSNESS

DR. EDGAR D. MITCHELL

EDITED BY JOHN WHITE WITH

A NEW FOREWORD BY MARILYN SCHLITZ, IONS PRESIDENT AND DEAN RADIN, IONS SENIOR SCIENTIST

NEW YORK

Psychic Exploration: A Challenge for Science copyright 1974 by Edgar D. Mitchell & Associates. New Foreword copyright 2011 by Marilyn Schlitz and Dean Radin. First published by G.P. Putnams Sons in 1974. Current edition published by Cosimo Books in 2011.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, scanning, or by any information storage and retrieval system without written permission from the publisher.

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ISBN: 978-1-61640-547-2

Part of the proceeds of this book will benefit the Institute of Noetic Sciences

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DEDICATION

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This book is dedicated to the potential in humanity which can bring a new age of understanding, cooperation and peace

CONTRIBUTORS

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James B. Beal

E. Douglas Dean

Martin Ebon

Jule Eisenbud

Gerald Feinberg

Willis W. Harman

Charles Honorton

Jean Houston

Stanley Krippner

Lawrence L. LeShan

Robert Masters

Edgar D. Mitchell

Robert L. Morris

Thelma Moss

Brendan OReagan

Henry K. Puharich

Harold Putnoff

D. Scott Rogo

William G. Roll

Gertrude Schmeidler

Helmut Schmidt

Rex G. Stanford

Russell Targ

Charles T. Tart

William A. Tiller

Montague Ullman

Robert L. Van De Castle

Alan Vaughan

Marcel Vogel

Evan Harris Walker

Rhea A. White

TABLE OF CONTENTS

___________________

Edgar D. Mitchell

Marilyn Schlitz and Dean Radin

Gerald Feinberg

Edgar D. Mitchell

Edgar D. Mitchell

On the Method of Science

in nature what is absurd, according to our theories, is not always impossible.

facts exist which mean nothing to most minds while they are full of light for others. It even happens that a fact or observation stays a very long time under the eyes of a man of science without in any way inspiring him; then suddenly there comes a ray of light, and the mind interprets the fact quite differently and finds for it wholly new relations. The new idea appears as a kind of sudden revelation

The experimental method, then, cannot give new and fruitful ideas to men who have none; it can serve only to guide the ideas of men who have them, to direct their ideas and to develop them so as to get the best results.

The idea is a seed; the (experimental) method is the earth furnishing the conditions in which it may develop, flourish and give the best of fruit according to its nature. But as only what has been sown in the ground will ever grow in it, so nothing will be developed by the experimental method except the ideas be submitted to it. The method itself gives birth to nothing.

Claude Bernard, Introduction to Experimental Medicine

On the Philosophy of Science

science can only be created by those thoroughly imbued with the aspiration toward truth and understanding. This source of feeling, however, springs from the sphere of religion.

science without religion is lame, religion without science is blind.

Albert Einstein, Ideas and Opinions

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

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T his book attempts to provide an authoritative encyclopedic volume on psychic research. Such a collaborative effort requires help from many people who do not appear visibly in its pages. But without their assistance and guidance, the book would be measurably farther from fulfilling its purpose.

First, I want to offer a word of sincere gratitude to Dr. J.B. Rhine and Dr. Louise E. Rhine of the Foundation for Research on the Nature of Man. As a member of the board of directors of Dr. Rhines foundation for two years, I have profited immensely from our association and from the help he gave me in my first major research project in extrasensory perception. I regret that he and Mrs. Rhine were unable to participate in this project.

Likewise, I regret that Dr. Gardner Murphy of the Department of Psychology at American University, Dr. Ian Stevenson of the Medical School at University of Virginia, Dr. Shafica Karagulla of the Higher Sense Perception Research Foundation in Los Angeles, and Dr. William E. McGarey of the Association for Research and Enlightenment Clinic in Phoenix, Arizona, had commitments that prevented them from joining us. However, their thoughtful comments have proven useful, and I trust that his book will prove worthy despite their absence from the roster of contributors.

The chapters were read by a four-member editorial review board consisting of three contributors and one outside authority. The contributing members were Dr. William Tiller, Dr. Robert Morris, and Dr. Jean Houston; the fourth member was Dr. Karlis Osis, director of research for the American Society for Psychical Research. Dr. Osis was in India at the time I began this project, and because of previous commitments, he felt unable to contribute a chapter. I am pleased that he could join us in an editorial-review capacity. The board was of incalculable value in strengthening the book, and the authors join me in giving great thanks to the board members for their assistance. That different interpretations and points of view may exist on the basis of the same data is no ones fault, least of all the review boards It merely indicates that we do not yet have the answers to many problems in psychic research and that we need more experimental work in many areas.

When this book was first conceived, I thought of myself as the sole author. Obviously the conception changed. During late 1971 and 1972, the number of research people working in this field expanded so rapidly, with a consequent increase in new knowledge and developments, that one person could not adequately tell the story in depth. The first shift in the conception involved a major research effort in which Prof. William Braud and Ms. Lyndell Braud of the University of Houston directed a staff that helped me compile information on a variety of topics. The staff consisted of Wallace Domert, Ronald B. Hoffman, Dorothy Lum Wong, Jack B. McMahan, Barry J. Wepman, Ronald Sunderland, and Leslie Pinter. Their reports are embodied in various chapters of this book.