New Thinking Allowed

When I record video conversations with members of the P.A. for the New Thinking Allowed channel on YouTube, I also post here. Many other interviews, relevant to parapsychology, with non-members can be viewed at www.newthinkingallowed.com

Monday, February 18, 2019   2:40 PM

The Early Years of Parapsychology at Duke University with Sally Rhine Feather

Sally Rhine Feather, PhD, is on the board or directors of the Rhine Research Center. She is coauthor of The Gift: The Extraordinary Paranormal Experiences of Ordinary People.

Here she describes her life, growing up as the eldest daughter of Joseph Banks Rhine, widely regarded as the father of modern parapsychology. As a teenager, and also as an adult, she worked at the parapsychology lab at Duke University. Research at the time focused on personality and mood variables associated with ESP, psychokinesis, and precognition. The existence of psi was accepted by the researchers. She describes the great care the researchers took to prevent errors or fraud.

(Recorded on January 24, 2019)

For a complete, updated list with links to all of our videos, see https://newthinkingallowed.com/Listings.htm.

Tuesday, February 12, 2019   1:20 AM

Remote Viewing in Nautical Archeology: The Caravel Project with Stephan A. Schwartz

Stephan A. Schwartz is a Distinguished Consulting Faculty of Saybrook University. He is the columnist for the journal Explore, and editor of the daily web publication Schwartzreport.net in both of which he covers trends that are affecting the future. His other academic and research appointments include: Senior Fellow for Brain, Mind and Healing of the Samueli Institute; founder and Research Director of the Mobius laboratory. Government appointments include Special Assistant for Research and Analysis to the Chief of Naval Operations. Schwartz was the principal researcher studying the use of Remote Viewing in archaeology. Using Remote Viewing he discovered Cleopatra's Palace, Marc Antony's Timonium, ruins of the Lighthouse of Pharos, and sunken ships along the California coast, and in the Bahamas. He is the author of more than 130 technical reports and papers. He has written The Secret Vaults of Time, The Alexandria Project, Mind Rover, Opening to the Infinite, and The 8 Laws of Change.

Here he describes how Christopher Columbus was forced to abandon two ships in St. Ann's Bay, Jamaica, during his fourth voyage to the western hemisphere. He and his crew were marooned for over a year. For decades, nautical archeologists have been searching for these shipwrecks. Eventually, one archeologist sought the assistance of remote viewers from Schwartz' Mobius Group. Stephan describes how he developed the Mobius consensus protocol and organized a project to locate the remnants of Columbus' ships. The accuracy of the descriptors provided by the remote viewers was remarkably high.

(Recorded on January 19, 2019)

For a complete, updated list with links to all of our videos, see https://newthinkingallowed.com/Listings.htm.

Wednesday, February 6, 2019   6:21 PM

A New Vision of the Unexplained, Part 2, with Jeffrey Kripal

Jeffrey J. Kripal is the J. Newton Rayzor Professor of Philosophy and Religious Thought and former chair of the Department of Religious Studies at Rice University in Houston, Texas. His books include Kali's Child, Esalen, Authors of the Impossible, The Serpent's Gift, Mutants and Mystics, The Supernatural (with Whitley Strieber), and Secret Body. He is coauthor, with Elizabeth Krohn, of Changed in a Flash: One Woman's Near-Death Experience and Why a Scholar Thinks It Empowers Us All.

Here he shares a scholarly perspective on the non-fiction books and claims of Whitley Strieber. He describes Strieber as a prophet or shaman in a culture that has no place for prophets and shamans. He acknowledges that he differs from Strieber regarding the physicality of the events he has describes. He also doubts that these circumstances are amenable to scientific evaluation. He suggests that humanistic approaches, such as hermeneutics offer much promise in understanding the mystery of Strieber's life.

(Recorded on January 11, 2019)

For a complete, updated list with links to all of our videos, see https://newthinkingallowed.com/Listings.htm.

Friday, January 25, 2019   3:55 PM

Science and the Siddhis (or Powers of Yoga) with Dean Radin

Dean Radin, PhD, is chief scientist at the Institute of Noetic Science in Novato, California. He is author of The Conscious Universe, Entangled Minds, Supernormal, and Real Magic.

Here he reviews the Yoga Sutras of Patanjali, especially with regard to the description of about 25 different "siddhis" or powers that are attained by advanced practitioners. Once one has achieved a measure of enlightenment, known as samadhi, one can begin the practice of samyama which then enables a variety of parapsychological skills. However, in yoga, these are generally considered to be distractions from the ultimate goal of spiritual enlightenment. Radin compares the claims of yoga with the findings of parapsychology.

(Recorded on December 28, 2018)

For a complete, updated list with links to all of our videos, see https://newthinkingallowed.com/Listings.htm.

Thursday, January 24, 2019   4:28 AM

Remote Viewing the Capture of Saddam Hussein with Stephan Schwartz

Stephan A. Schwartz is a Distinguished Consulting Faculty of Saybrook University. He is the columnist for the journal Explore, and editor of the daily web publication Schwartzreport.net in both of which he covers trends that are affecting the future. His other academic and research appointments include: Senior Fellow for Brain, Mind and Healing of the Samueli Institute; founder and Research Director of the Mobius laboratory. Government appointments include Special Assistant for Research and Analysis to the Chief of Naval Operations. Schwartz was the principal researcher studying the use of Remote Viewing in archaeology. Using Remote Viewing he discovered Cleopatra's Palace, Marc Antony's Timonium, ruins of the Lighthouse of Pharos, and sunken ships along the California coast, and in the Bahamas. He is the author of more than 130 technical reports and papers. He has written The Secret Vaults of Time, The Alexandria Project, Mind Rover, Opening to the Infinite, and The 8 Laws of Change.

Here he describes a remote viewing experiment conducted in 2003, about six weeks prior to the capture of Saddam Hussein. A group of 47 remote viewers participating in a workshop at the Edgar Cayce Foundation endeavored to precognitively describe many details concerning the condition and situation of Saddam at the time of his capture. Many details were accurate in surprising ways, including the location and appearance of Saddam and the fact that, although he was armed, he did not resist capture.

(Recorded on December 23, 2018)

For a complete, updated list with links to all of our videos, see https://newthinkingallowed.com/Listings.htm.

Thursday, January 24, 2019   4:25 AM

The Power of the Near-Death Experience, Part 2 with Jeffrey Kripal

Jeffrey J. Kripal is the J. Newton Rayzor Professor of Philosophy and Religious Thought and former chair of the Department of Religious Studies at Rice University in Houston, Texas. His books include Kali's Child, Esalen, Authors of the Impossible, The Serpent's Gift, Mutants and Mystics, The Super Natural (with Whitley Strieber), and Secret Body. He is coauthor, with Elizabeth Krohn, of Changed in a Flash: One Woman's Near-Death Experience and Why a Scholar Thinks It Empowers Us All.

Here he explains the significance of Elizabeth Krohn's near-death experience. He points out that simply reading or talking about such matters helps to create a "safe space" for others who may be having similar experiences. He notes that her experience, like most NDEs, was colored by her family and religious background. He also describes Eric Wargo's concept of "time loops", and suggests that this model allows for a wide variety of phenomena otherwise thought to be "paranormal".

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). He is 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 study of consciousness.

(Recorded on December 21, 2018)

For a complete, updated list with links to all of our videos, see https://newthinkingallowed.com/Listings.htm.

Friday, January 18, 2019   4:37 PM

The Ideogram Controversy in Remote Viewing with Paul H. Smith

Paul H. Smith, PhD, has served twice as president of the International Remote Viewing Association an organization of which he is a founder. A former Army intelligence officer, he served for seven years as part of the military’s top-secret remote viewing program. He is author of Reading the Enemy’s Mind and The Essential Guide to Remote Viewing. He currently serves as president and chief trainer for Remote Viewing Instructional Services. His website is https://rviewer.com/.

Here he describes the history of the use of the ideogram in remote viewing. The technique was developed by Ingo Swann and was based, in part, on the drawings of children. Subsequently some remote viewing trainers have expanded the technique in order to create something of a lexicon of ambience symbols. Smith discusses both the advantages and disadvantages of this revised approach.

(Recorded November 19, 2018)

For a complete, updated list with links to all of our videos, see https://newthinkingallowed.com/Listings.htm.

Friday, January 18, 2019   4:34 PM

The Global Consciousness Project with Roger D. Nelson

Roger D. Nelson, PhD, is the director of the Global Consciousness Project, an international, multi-laboratory collaboration founded in 1997 which aimed to study collective consciousness. From 1980 to 2002, he was Coordinator of Research at the Princeton Engineering Anomalies Research laboratory at Princeton University. His website is http://noosphere.princeton.edu/.

Here he describes, in detail, a variety of experimental protocols involving "true" random event generators (REGs). Early work involved having the experimental subjects (called "operators") intentionally try to influences the REGs in one of two directions. Statistically significant deviations from chance were recorded. Later work involved "field REGs" in which small devices were brought to various locations at which the researchers anticipated some form of coherent group consciousness -- such as a concert. This proved to be even more statistically significant. Eventually, the Global Consciousness Project was established. It collected continuous data from numerous REGs at different locations throughout the world. Over 500 different events were tested to see if deviations from chance expectation would occur. The overall results were highly significant.

(Recorded on December 19, 2018)

Wednesday, January 9, 2019   6:29 PM

Phone Calls From the Dead with Callum E. Cooper

Callum Cooper, PhD, is a lecturer in psychology at the University of Northampton in the United Kingdom. He is author of Telephone Calls From the Dead. He is coeditor, with Steven Parsons, of Paracoustics: Sound and the Paranormal. And, he is coauthor (with Alex Tanous) of Conversations With Ghosts. His website is www.callumecooper.com.

Here he describes how he is continuing the research initiated by D. Scott Rogo and Raymond Bayliss regarding individuals who receive ostensible telephone calls from the departed. He reveals many of the details required for thorough investigation of these cases. He also discusses a variety of alternative explanations. He enumerates several different types of phone calls that are in the database of about 100 such cases.

(Recorded on December 17, 2018)

Thursday, January 3, 2019   11:27 PM

Skepticism About Remote Viewing with Paul H. Smith

Paul H. Smith, PhD, has served twice as president of the International Remote Viewing Association an organization of which he is a founder. A former Army intelligence officer, he served for seven years as part of the military’s top-secret remote viewing program. He is author of Reading the Enemy’s Mind and The Essential Guide to Remote Viewing. He currently serves as president and chief trainer for Remote Viewing Instructional Services. His website is https://rviewer.com/.

Here he points out that parapsychologists and remote viewing researchers have benefitted from critical comments that have enabled them to design better experiments. Contrary to some popular accounts, when conditions are tightened, the experimental results continue to remain strong. Smith goes into some detail explaining why the program was closed in 1995, in spite of many operational successes.

(Recorded November 19, 2018)

For a complete, updated list with links to all of our videos, see https://newthinkingallowed.com/Listings.htm.

© 2024 The Parapsychological Association. All rights reserved.