The Parapsychological Association

Marjorie Woollacott, PhD, is emeritus professor of Neuroscience and Human Physiology at the University of Oregon. She is coauthor of the textbook, Motor Control: Translating Research Into Clinical Practice. She is author of Infinite Awareness: The Awakening of a Scientific Mind, winner of the 2017 Book Award from the Parapsychological Association.

Here she presents her perspective, as a neuroscientist, conducting experiments relating to the effects of meditation. Then she goes on to describe her encounters with the large body of research on near-death experience, parapsychology, and reincarnation. She describes the research protocols in some detail and explains why she regards the work in these fields to be exemplary of good science.

New Thinking Allowed host, Jeffrey Mishlove, PhD, hosted and co-produced the original Thinking Allowed public television series. He is a past vice-president of the Association for Humanistic Psychology; and is the recipient of the Pathfinder Award from that Association for his contributions to the field of human consciousness exploration.

(Recorded on April 12, 2018)

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James G. Matlock, PhD, an anthropologist, is coauthor (with Erlendur Haraldsson) of I Saw a Light and Came Here: Children's Experiences of Reincarnation. He is a regular contributor to the online Psi Encyclopedia sponsored by the Society for Psychical Research in London. He has authored dozens of academic papers concerning reincarnation and related areas.

Here he points out that tribal beliefs concerning reincarnation can be found among indigenous people throughout the world. Furthermore, these beliefs typically include knowledge of the very same signs of reincarnation that researchers have found in case studies of children who remember past lives. Tribal beliefs regarding kinship patterns seem to influence the verifiable cases of past-life memory found within tribal groups, reinforcing the notion that individuals, based on their beliefs, can exert a measure of control over the reincarnation process.

New Thinking Allowed host, Jeffrey Mishlove, PhD, is author of The Roots of Consciousness, Psi Development Systems, and The PK Man. Between 1986 and 2002 he hosted and co-produced the original Thinking Allowed public television series. He is the recipient of the only doctoral diploma in "parapsychology" ever awarded by an accredited university (University of California, Berkeley, 1980).

(Recorded on November 14, 2017) 

Jeffrey Mishlove points out that, thus far, he has conducted more New Thinking Allowed video conversations with Stephan Schwartz than with any other individual. He reviews Schwartz' background and the fact that they were both guided by serendipitous experiences to pursue careers in parapsychology. Schwartz has also made more contributions to the field of applied psi than, probably, any other individual. In addition Jeffrey points out that Schwartz' daily internet newsletter, The Schwartz Report, examines social and political issues from a data-driven stance.

Jim Matlock he addresses many questions concerning the psychological dynamics associated with past-life memories. Why do some people have memories more readily than others? How do adult memories differ from the memories of children? What are the benefits and drawback of having such memories? How do these memories influence behavior when they are not quite conscious?

(Recorded on November 13, 2017)

James G. Matlock points out that one could conceivably consider cases of the reincarnation type to be similar in many respects to cases of possession. In particular, there are instances in the reincarnation case database of previous individuals whose death occurs after the birth of a child who remembers an identifiable past life. Typically, those cases involve very young children who get sick and appear to die. Sometimes, funeral preparations are being made when the child revives and claims to be a different person.

(Recorded on November 13, 2017)