PSYCHIC DISCOVERIES
Jeff Mishlove
Psi Training
Soviet Psi Training (From Chapter Three of Psi Development Systems)
Ever since the publicjation of Psychic Discoveries Behind the Iron Curtain by Ostrander and Schroeder in 1970, the notion has been popular that Soviet parapsychologists have developed sophisticated techniques for training psi abilities. Ostrander and Schroeder cited several instances of apparent psi training. According to them training has focused on the telepathic sender. Techniques include surrounding the sender with weak electromagnetic fields, stimulating certain acupuncture points with needles, and mental suggestions. Instances are reported of Soviet laboratory psychics who trained themselves through persistent practice of various psi tasks. One prominently mentioned psi research subject, Karl Nikolaiev, had his friends hide objects and then telepathically direct hint to find them. Nikolaiev also credited the development of his psi skills to his training in yogic breathing exercises. Another subject, Alex Monin, trained himself by attempting to induce itching in various innocent bystanders as he sat on a park bench.
In Handbook of Psi Discoveries (1974),Ostrander and Schroeder highlighted a technique for inducing telepathy which they claimed was developed by Vladimir Fidelman, "a psi investigator at the Bio-Information Section of Moscow's Popov Institute." Insufficient data to evaluate this experiment are provided. The technique involves placing the target object in such a manner that it is illuminated by a flashing light. The telepathic sender then concentrates on the target in a rhythmic manner along with the light. According to Ostrander and Schroeder, Fidelman's senders, using numbers as targets, "successfully transmitted 100 out of 134 numbers to a receiver over a mile away." Ostrander and Schroeder claim that the "teleflasher" is an excellent way to get successful telepathy results and their book devoted considerable attention to it (along with other party games, given an ESP twist for training).
Victor Adamenko (1976), a Soviet biophysicist who is also a member of the Parapsychological Association, has reported in a paper, translated by A. J. Lewis, that he has developed means of training subjects in "electrical telekinesis." This is a process of moving small objects by virtue of an electrostatic field buil up in the body. Adamenko claims that the ability of these subjects improved under hypnosis. At the beginning of his experiments subjects charged themselves by rubbing their hands against the surface of a dialectric cube. Eventually they learned how to effect their own body charge without such exercises.
A review of this research by Wortz et al. (1976) prepared under Contract No. XG-4208 by the Airesearch Company states that Adamenko's report "appears to be genuine information and not disinformation." Elsewhere, Wortz et al. describe Adamenko's training methods in a manner suggesting the possibility of an actual psi - and not merely electrostatic - effect as follows:
"His model for training in telekinesis is volitional effort that leads to changes in skin conductivity that are simultaneous with telekinesis. During training, the subjects learn by volitional effort to charge a battery of condensers; the charge is roughly proportional to volitional effort. Once trained, the subjects can use similar volitional effort to electrostatically charge an object at a distance. In describing what may be a current Soviet position in training, Adamenko further states in his discussion on ‘. . . Electrodynamics and Psychoenergetics,' that ‘Production of special states of consciousness and psychic training at the level of psychoenergetics using modem devices has just as great significance as the investigation of the psychic field using physically talented individuals."'
The actual distance over which an object can be electrostatically charged is not sufficiently specified to rule out, as Wortz et al. imply, a normal electrostatic interaction.
An important Soviet researcher is A. S. Roman, described by Lewis (1976) as "a medical doctor with impeccable credentials." Roman has specialized in the field of "psychic self-regulation" or the "influence of self-suggestion on the human organism." His experimental research has extended over twenty years. Lewis (1976) states that this research began in the mid-fifties, "reportedly to discover ways by which cosmonauts could be taught to control their psycho-physiological processes in the conditions of space flight." His training method, which involves active self-suggestion, is drawn from elements of zen, yoga, Chinese medicine, autogenic training and progressive relaxation. Roman has laid great emphasis on research with naive, healthy subjects. Physiological parameters are measured both before and after training in psychical self-regulation. Measurements have included control of skin temperature, induction of a cataleptic state of "waxy flexibility," induction of automatic writing and automatic speech, isolated contraction of abdominal muscles, displacement of the internal organs of the abdominal cavity, alteration of sensitivity to pain, control of blood sugar metabolism, decrease of reaction time, decrease of visual perception speed, increase of memory abilities, and decrease of visual after images. During these experiments, Roman and his colleagues noticed a variety of effects that seemed to obey no lawfulness that depended on the self-regulation exercises. These effects included distortion of body image, feelings of inner agitation, itching and feelings of body discomfort.
Additionally, Roman has researched the use of self-suggestion as a therapeutic tool. Lewis (1976) states that Roman finds self-suggestion superior to any other therapeutic method, including hypnosis. Successful treatment has been researched with regard to some 23 different pathological conditions listed by Lewis.
Roman is one of the proponents of the theory of "bioplasmic energy" in the Soviet Union. This theory, sometimes likened to the occult concept of the "aura," is claimed by its proponents to account for the data of parapsychology. To support this theory, measurements of electrobioluminescence are made using high-voltage photography apparatus of the sort pioneered by Semyon and Valentina Kirlian. Regarding this research, Roman and Victor Inyushin state,
"When the trained subject places his hand on the forearm of the non-trained subject, and begins to suggest to himself a feeling of warmth in the hand, then similar changes will also appear in the arm of the non-trained, although before this he could not produce this by himself. The non-trained subject does not know what the individual trained in autosuggestion suggests to himself and to what extent, this being specified in the conditions of the experiment. Similar results were also noticed with distant contacts (2-3 cm. distance), but sometimes with weaker manifestation. It is possible to produce these effects only with the aid of individuals who developed the ability to voluntarily effect through autosuggestion a number of involuntary unconscious processes in the body (e.g., changing skin temperature).
"To refine the distant action of this effect, a series of special investigations with plants were conducted, as the experiments have shown to be very sensitive indicators of different forms of energy. Also in this case, electrobioluminescence data have shown that during distant contact (5-10 cm.) the autosuggestion of warmth (e.g. in the hand) increased the luminescence intensity in the direction of growth, as compared with the initial condition. On the other hand, autosuggestion of cold decreased it.
The extent to which psi is involved in the experiments of Adamenko and Roman is clearly questionable. The small distances over which "bioenergetic" effects are noticed are not sufficient to rule out nonpsi forms of interaction. It is entirely possible that training in self-regulation has been applied to more specifically measurable psi tasks, and that such research has not been published in a manner that would be accessible to American researchers. Such speculation is tenuous although probably not less informative than current popular accounts of Soviet psi activity.
References
Adamenko, V. Some questions of biological electrodynamics and psychoenergetics. In A.J. Lewis, A Report. Los Angeles: author, 1976.
Lewis, A.J. A Report. Los Angeles: author, 1976.
Ostrander, S., and Schroeder, L. Psychic discoveries behind the iron curtain. New York: Bantam, 1969.
Ostrander, S., and Schroeder, L. Handbook of psi discoveries. New York: Berkeley, 1974.
Wortz, E.C., Bauer, A.J., Blackwelder, R.F., Eerkens, J.W., and Saur, A.J. Novel biophysical information transfer mechanisms (NBIT). AlResearch Manufacturing Companv (2525 W. 190th Street, Torrance, CA 90509), January 14, 1976, Document No. 76-13197, Contract No. XG-4208(54 - 20)75S.
Psi: The Extrasensorimotor Communication Paradigm [From Chapter One of Psi Development Systems]
In the glossary of The Journal of Parapsychology (published by the Institute of Parapsychology), psi is defined as a "general term to identify a person's extrasensori- motor communication with the environment." Psi includes extrasensory perception (ESP) and psychokinesis (PK).
Extrasensory perception is defined in the Journal of Parapsychology as "experience of, or response to, a target object, state, event, or influence without sensory contact." While in the popular mind, ESP or "being psychic" is often associated with mental awareness of auras, spirits, deities, or other archetypal figures, it is clear that Rhine intended to distinguish parapsychology from such popular, unscientific approaches since they are based on assumptions that cannot be proved true or false.
Using an information-flow diagram, Charles Tart (1977) developed graphic representations that mapped out the implicit assumptions that parapsychologists have about ESP.
As Tart explains it, "We begin with the target, a physical event or state of affairs from which information flows through some channel of transmission and reaches the percipient. After reaching the percipient, the information is transformed into mental and/or neural impulses by some sort of receptor and eventually results in knowledge and/or observable behavior, from which we infer that information about the target event has reached the percipient."
The traditional conceptualization of psi is described by Rex Stanford (1977, 1978) as the psycho-biological model or paradigm. Stanford has suggested that the habitual view of psi as a form of "extra-sensorimotor communication" is not entirely supported by the experimental evidence. He points out, for example, that the model assumes the existence of a biological organ of perception for ESP although none has yet been detected.
If the process of precognition were being diagrammed, one must imagine the target object or state as existing in the future and that information flows across the channel backward through time to the percipient. In the telepathic situation, the target object or state of affairs is another individual - although in this model, telepathic transmission actually bears more of a resemblance to psychokinesis.
Psychokinesis (PK) is defined in the Journal of Parapsychology as "the extramotor aspect of psi; a direct (i.e., mental but nonmuscular) influence exerted by the subject on an external physical process, condition, or object." Psychic healing is thought to be PK action on living material.
Tart (1977a) has diagrammed the principles of PK in a manner similar to that used for ESP, although instead of a hypothetical "receptor" we now have a hypothetical "convertor or power generator." The PK force is thought to be guided in a somewhat cybernetic fashion from feedback obtained through ESP (although normal sensory feedback can also operate in some situations):
Although the psychobiological model suggests that PK results should decline with targets of increasing complexity, Stanford (1977) noted that a review of the PK literature did not support this hypothesis.
Many events collected in the spontaneous case histories of parapsychologists and psychical researchers lacked some of the perceptual/cognitive components normally associated with Rhine's paradigm. These events include meaningful coincidences. For example, one case collected by Rex Stanford involved the fate of a man traveling by subway in Manhattan to visit friends. Accidentally, he forgot to change trains and ended up having to exit many blocks from his intended destination. However, upon leaving the subway station, he suddenly encountered the very friends he was intending to visit.
Stanford (1974) has developed a model consistent with Rhine's that explains these events, which he labels "psi-mediated instrumental responses (PMIR). He proposes the existence of an unconscious ESP mechanism that is constantly (or intermittently) scanning the environment, alert to favorable or unfavorable circumstances. Although this information never reaches conscious awareness, Stanford postulates that it is capable of influencing individual behavior instrumental in encountering favorable or avoiding unfavorable events. The reverse may be the case with masochistic individuals.
Similarly, the PMIR model proposes a PK mechanism that also operates unconsciously to affect favorable and unfavorable circumstances. It was because of his intense efforts to reconcile the PMIR model with the experimental data in psychokinesis that Stanford began to develop misgivings serious enough to cause him to question, for the first time, Rhine's entire extrasensorimotor communication paradigm.
References
Stanford, R.G. Concept and psi. In WG. Roll, R.L. Morris, and J.D. Morris (Eds.), Research in parapsychology, 1973, Metuchen, N.J.: Scarecrow Press, 1974.
Stanford, R.G. Are parapsychologists paradigmless in psiland? In B. Shapin and L. Coly (Eds.), The philosophv of parapsychology. New York, Parapsychology Foundation, 1977.
Stanford, R.G. Toward reinterpreting psi events. Journal of the American Society for Psychical Research, 1978, 72(3), 197-214.
Tart, C.T. Improving real time ESP by suppressing the future: trans-temporal inhibition. Paper, Electro 77 meeting of the Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers, New York City, April 1977.
Milan Ryzl Training Program [From Chapter Three of Psi Development Systems]
This program deserves special attention since Dr. Ryzl is a member of the Parapsychological Association and has also published articles about psychic training in the International Journal of Parapsychology. (An evaluation of Ryzl's scientific work is included in Chapter IV.) In this original formulation, Ryzl's training was outlined in five stages:
(1) Psychological preparation of the subject prior to hypnosis.
(2) Induction of the hypnotic state.
(3) Utilization of the hypnotic state for the activation of ESP.
(4) Improvement and further cultivation of the subject's abilities.
(5) Bringing ESP under conscious control in the normal waking state" (Ryzl, 1972).
This above formulation which originally appeared in the International Journal of Parapsychology is intended as an outline for those who would like to develop ESP in others. It is not actually the basis of Ryzl's current training program, as the hypnotic state requires close personal interaction between trainer and subject.
Dr. Ryzl's current program offers an interesting contrast to the Rosicrucian program, since both are correspondence courses. Ryzl's course does not offer the attraction of ancient traditions, but offers instead detailed instructions on tape cassettes intended to train the student to enter into a psi-conducive, altered state of consciousness -a state of "alert relaxation" comparable perhaps to the "alpha level" of the Silva training. The course also includes a book authored and published by Ryzl entitled How to Develop ESP in Yourself and Others. The book is well written, is generally based on the experimental literature and offers no panaceas or immediate results. Ryzl personally does not claim to have developed his own psychic abilities and states that he is not a good trance subject himself.
After an introductory chapter on "the sixth sense," Ryzl assigns his students two exercises: "Make a list of situations in the recent past where ESP might have helped you in your personal life." "Make a list of possible uses of ESP in everyday life." Another of Ryzl's basic exercises for the effective and practical use of ESP is as follows:
(1) Send out an intensive question.
(2) Then make the mind blank, try to eliminate all influence of your thoughts, and wait until the answer emerges in your consciousness.
Ryzl states that these two conditions "seem to be the whole secret of the effective use of ESP." He adds that it is difficult to realize them in practice and they can only be attained through patience and persistence.
The tape cassettes are designed to produce a relaxed state of mind and provide the student an opportunity to practice ESP in a setting that does not require the personal presence of a teacher. With the course are ESP tests designed to be taken alone by the student and then sent in to Ryzl for analysis. Although over a thousand people have taken this course during the past several years, and some of these have sent test data in to Ryzl. Ryzl has not yet conducted an analysis of his data.
The content of this program is far more acceptable to the professional researcher than the other more popular ESP training packages but, perhaps as a consequence of this, the program itself is less charismatic and inspiring -- lacking, as it does, the elements of personal contact and a spiritual foundation.
References
Ryzl, M. How to develop ESP in yourself and others. San Jose, Calif.: author, 1977. (Originally published, 1972.) Ryzl, M. A method of training ESP. International Journal of Parapsychology, 1966, 8, 501-532.
Ryzl, M. Review of some ESP experiments with a hypnotically prepared subject. Journal of the American Society of Psychosomatic Dentistry and Medicine, 1976, 23, 40-53.
Ryzl, M. Training the psi faculty by hypnosis. Journal of the Society for Psychical Research, 1962, 41, 232-252.
Ryzl, M., and Ryzlova, J. A case of high-scoring ESP performance in the hypnotic state. Journal of Parapsychology, 1962, 26, 153-171.
Ever since the publicjation of Psychic Discoveries Behind the Iron Curtain by Ostrander and Schroeder in 1970, the notion has been popular that Soviet parapsychologists have developed sophisticated techniques for training psi abilities. Ostrander and Schroeder cited several instances of apparent psi training. According to them training has focused on the telepathic sender. Techniques include surrounding the sender with weak electromagnetic fields, stimulating certain acupuncture points with needles, and mental suggestions. Instances are reported of Soviet laboratory psychics who trained themselves through persistent practice of various psi tasks. One prominently mentioned psi research subject, Karl Nikolaiev, had his friends hide objects and then telepathically direct hint to find them. Nikolaiev also credited the development of his psi skills to his training in yogic breathing exercises. Another subject, Alex Monin, trained himself by attempting to induce itching in various innocent bystanders as he sat on a park bench.
In Handbook of Psi Discoveries (1974),Ostrander and Schroeder highlighted a technique for inducing telepathy which they claimed was developed by Vladimir Fidelman, "a psi investigator at the Bio-Information Section of Moscow's Popov Institute." Insufficient data to evaluate this experiment are provided. The technique involves placing the target object in such a manner that it is illuminated by a flashing light. The telepathic sender then concentrates on the target in a rhythmic manner along with the light. According to Ostrander and Schroeder, Fidelman's senders, using numbers as targets, "successfully transmitted 100 out of 134 numbers to a receiver over a mile away." Ostrander and Schroeder claim that the "teleflasher" is an excellent way to get successful telepathy results and their book devoted considerable attention to it (along with other party games, given an ESP twist for training).
Victor Adamenko (1976), a Soviet biophysicist who is also a member of the Parapsychological Association, has reported in a paper, translated by A. J. Lewis, that he has developed means of training subjects in "electrical telekinesis." This is a process of moving small objects by virtue of an electrostatic field buil up in the body. Adamenko claims that the ability of these subjects improved under hypnosis. At the beginning of his experiments subjects charged themselves by rubbing their hands against the surface of a dialectric cube. Eventually they learned how to effect their own body charge without such exercises.
A review of this research by Wortz et al. (1976) prepared under Contract No. XG-4208 by the Airesearch Company states that Adamenko's report "appears to be genuine information and not disinformation." Elsewhere, Wortz et al. describe Adamenko's training methods in a manner suggesting the possibility of an actual psi - and not merely electrostatic - effect as follows:
"His model for training in telekinesis is volitional effort that leads to changes in skin conductivity that are simultaneous with telekinesis. During training, the subjects learn by volitional effort to charge a battery of condensers; the charge is roughly proportional to volitional effort. Once trained, the subjects can use similar volitional effort to electrostatically charge an object at a distance. In describing what may be a current Soviet position in training, Adamenko further states in his discussion on ‘. . . Electrodynamics and Psychoenergetics,' that ‘Production of special states of consciousness and psychic training at the level of psychoenergetics using modem devices has just as great significance as the investigation of the psychic field using physically talented individuals."'
The actual distance over which an object can be electrostatically charged is not sufficiently specified to rule out, as Wortz et al. imply, a normal electrostatic interaction.
An important Soviet researcher is A. S. Roman, described by Lewis (1976) as "a medical doctor with impeccable credentials." Roman has specialized in the field of "psychic self-regulation" or the "influence of self-suggestion on the human organism." His experimental research has extended over twenty years. Lewis (1976) states that this research began in the mid-fifties, "reportedly to discover ways by which cosmonauts could be taught to control their psycho-physiological processes in the conditions of space flight." His training method, which involves active self-suggestion, is drawn from elements of zen, yoga, Chinese medicine, autogenic training and progressive relaxation. Roman has laid great emphasis on research with naive, healthy subjects. Physiological parameters are measured both before and after training in psychical self-regulation. Measurements have included control of skin temperature, induction of a cataleptic state of "waxy flexibility," induction of automatic writing and automatic speech, isolated contraction of abdominal muscles, displacement of the internal organs of the abdominal cavity, alteration of sensitivity to pain, control of blood sugar metabolism, decrease of reaction time, decrease of visual perception speed, increase of memory abilities, and decrease of visual after images. During these experiments, Roman and his colleagues noticed a variety of effects that seemed to obey no lawfulness that depended on the self-regulation exercises. These effects included distortion of body image, feelings of inner agitation, itching and feelings of body discomfort.
Additionally, Roman has researched the use of self-suggestion as a therapeutic tool. Lewis (1976) states that Roman finds self-suggestion superior to any other therapeutic method, including hypnosis. Successful treatment has been researched with regard to some 23 different pathological conditions listed by Lewis.
Roman is one of the proponents of the theory of "bioplasmic energy" in the Soviet Union. This theory, sometimes likened to the occult concept of the "aura," is claimed by its proponents to account for the data of parapsychology. To support this theory, measurements of electrobioluminescence are made using high-voltage photography apparatus of the sort pioneered by Semyon and Valentina Kirlian. Regarding this research, Roman and Victor Inyushin state,
"When the trained subject places his hand on the forearm of the non-trained subject, and begins to suggest to himself a feeling of warmth in the hand, then similar changes will also appear in the arm of the non-trained, although before this he could not produce this by himself. The non-trained subject does not know what the individual trained in autosuggestion suggests to himself and to what extent, this being specified in the conditions of the experiment. Similar results were also noticed with distant contacts (2-3 cm. distance), but sometimes with weaker manifestation. It is possible to produce these effects only with the aid of individuals who developed the ability to voluntarily effect through autosuggestion a number of involuntary unconscious processes in the body (e.g., changing skin temperature).
"To refine the distant action of this effect, a series of special investigations with plants were conducted, as the experiments have shown to be very sensitive indicators of different forms of energy. Also in this case, electrobioluminescence data have shown that during distant contact (5-10 cm.) the autosuggestion of warmth (e.g. in the hand) increased the luminescence intensity in the direction of growth, as compared with the initial condition. On the other hand, autosuggestion of cold decreased it.
The extent to which psi is involved in the experiments of Adamenko and Roman is clearly questionable. The small distances over which "bioenergetic" effects are noticed are not sufficient to rule out nonpsi forms of interaction. It is entirely possible that training in self-regulation has been applied to more specifically measurable psi tasks, and that such research has not been published in a manner that would be accessible to American researchers. Such speculation is tenuous although probably not less informative than current popular accounts of Soviet psi activity.
References
Adamenko, V. Some questions of biological electrodynamics and psychoenergetics. In A.J. Lewis, A Report. Los Angeles: author, 1976.
Lewis, A.J. A Report. Los Angeles: author, 1976.
Ostrander, S., and Schroeder, L. Psychic discoveries behind the iron curtain. New York: Bantam, 1969.
Ostrander, S., and Schroeder, L. Handbook of psi discoveries. New York: Berkeley, 1974.
Wortz, E.C., Bauer, A.J., Blackwelder, R.F., Eerkens, J.W., and Saur, A.J. Novel biophysical information transfer mechanisms (NBIT). AlResearch Manufacturing Companv (2525 W. 190th Street, Torrance, CA 90509), January 14, 1976, Document No. 76-13197, Contract No. XG-4208(54 - 20)75S.
Psi: The Extrasensorimotor Communication Paradigm [From Chapter One of Psi Development Systems]
In the glossary of The Journal of Parapsychology (published by the Institute of Parapsychology), psi is defined as a "general term to identify a person's extrasensori- motor communication with the environment." Psi includes extrasensory perception (ESP) and psychokinesis (PK).
Extrasensory perception is defined in the Journal of Parapsychology as "experience of, or response to, a target object, state, event, or influence without sensory contact." While in the popular mind, ESP or "being psychic" is often associated with mental awareness of auras, spirits, deities, or other archetypal figures, it is clear that Rhine intended to distinguish parapsychology from such popular, unscientific approaches since they are based on assumptions that cannot be proved true or false.
Using an information-flow diagram, Charles Tart (1977) developed graphic representations that mapped out the implicit assumptions that parapsychologists have about ESP.
As Tart explains it, "We begin with the target, a physical event or state of affairs from which information flows through some channel of transmission and reaches the percipient. After reaching the percipient, the information is transformed into mental and/or neural impulses by some sort of receptor and eventually results in knowledge and/or observable behavior, from which we infer that information about the target event has reached the percipient."
The traditional conceptualization of psi is described by Rex Stanford (1977, 1978) as the psycho-biological model or paradigm. Stanford has suggested that the habitual view of psi as a form of "extra-sensorimotor communication" is not entirely supported by the experimental evidence. He points out, for example, that the model assumes the existence of a biological organ of perception for ESP although none has yet been detected.
If the process of precognition were being diagrammed, one must imagine the target object or state as existing in the future and that information flows across the channel backward through time to the percipient. In the telepathic situation, the target object or state of affairs is another individual - although in this model, telepathic transmission actually bears more of a resemblance to psychokinesis.
Psychokinesis (PK) is defined in the Journal of Parapsychology as "the extramotor aspect of psi; a direct (i.e., mental but nonmuscular) influence exerted by the subject on an external physical process, condition, or object." Psychic healing is thought to be PK action on living material.
Tart (1977a) has diagrammed the principles of PK in a manner similar to that used for ESP, although instead of a hypothetical "receptor" we now have a hypothetical "convertor or power generator." The PK force is thought to be guided in a somewhat cybernetic fashion from feedback obtained through ESP (although normal sensory feedback can also operate in some situations):
Although the psychobiological model suggests that PK results should decline with targets of increasing complexity, Stanford (1977) noted that a review of the PK literature did not support this hypothesis.
Many events collected in the spontaneous case histories of parapsychologists and psychical researchers lacked some of the perceptual/cognitive components normally associated with Rhine's paradigm. These events include meaningful coincidences. For example, one case collected by Rex Stanford involved the fate of a man traveling by subway in Manhattan to visit friends. Accidentally, he forgot to change trains and ended up having to exit many blocks from his intended destination. However, upon leaving the subway station, he suddenly encountered the very friends he was intending to visit.
Stanford (1974) has developed a model consistent with Rhine's that explains these events, which he labels "psi-mediated instrumental responses (PMIR). He proposes the existence of an unconscious ESP mechanism that is constantly (or intermittently) scanning the environment, alert to favorable or unfavorable circumstances. Although this information never reaches conscious awareness, Stanford postulates that it is capable of influencing individual behavior instrumental in encountering favorable or avoiding unfavorable events. The reverse may be the case with masochistic individuals.
Similarly, the PMIR model proposes a PK mechanism that also operates unconsciously to affect favorable and unfavorable circumstances. It was because of his intense efforts to reconcile the PMIR model with the experimental data in psychokinesis that Stanford began to develop misgivings serious enough to cause him to question, for the first time, Rhine's entire extrasensorimotor communication paradigm.
References
Stanford, R.G. Concept and psi. In WG. Roll, R.L. Morris, and J.D. Morris (Eds.), Research in parapsychology, 1973, Metuchen, N.J.: Scarecrow Press, 1974.
Stanford, R.G. Are parapsychologists paradigmless in psiland? In B. Shapin and L. Coly (Eds.), The philosophv of parapsychology. New York, Parapsychology Foundation, 1977.
Stanford, R.G. Toward reinterpreting psi events. Journal of the American Society for Psychical Research, 1978, 72(3), 197-214.
Tart, C.T. Improving real time ESP by suppressing the future: trans-temporal inhibition. Paper, Electro 77 meeting of the Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers, New York City, April 1977.
Milan Ryzl Training Program [From Chapter Three of Psi Development Systems]
This program deserves special attention since Dr. Ryzl is a member of the Parapsychological Association and has also published articles about psychic training in the International Journal of Parapsychology. (An evaluation of Ryzl's scientific work is included in Chapter IV.) In this original formulation, Ryzl's training was outlined in five stages:
(1) Psychological preparation of the subject prior to hypnosis.
(2) Induction of the hypnotic state.
(3) Utilization of the hypnotic state for the activation of ESP.
(4) Improvement and further cultivation of the subject's abilities.
(5) Bringing ESP under conscious control in the normal waking state" (Ryzl, 1972).
This above formulation which originally appeared in the International Journal of Parapsychology is intended as an outline for those who would like to develop ESP in others. It is not actually the basis of Ryzl's current training program, as the hypnotic state requires close personal interaction between trainer and subject.
Dr. Ryzl's current program offers an interesting contrast to the Rosicrucian program, since both are correspondence courses. Ryzl's course does not offer the attraction of ancient traditions, but offers instead detailed instructions on tape cassettes intended to train the student to enter into a psi-conducive, altered state of consciousness -a state of "alert relaxation" comparable perhaps to the "alpha level" of the Silva training. The course also includes a book authored and published by Ryzl entitled How to Develop ESP in Yourself and Others. The book is well written, is generally based on the experimental literature and offers no panaceas or immediate results. Ryzl personally does not claim to have developed his own psychic abilities and states that he is not a good trance subject himself.
After an introductory chapter on "the sixth sense," Ryzl assigns his students two exercises: "Make a list of situations in the recent past where ESP might have helped you in your personal life." "Make a list of possible uses of ESP in everyday life." Another of Ryzl's basic exercises for the effective and practical use of ESP is as follows:
(1) Send out an intensive question.
(2) Then make the mind blank, try to eliminate all influence of your thoughts, and wait until the answer emerges in your consciousness.
Ryzl states that these two conditions "seem to be the whole secret of the effective use of ESP." He adds that it is difficult to realize them in practice and they can only be attained through patience and persistence.
The tape cassettes are designed to produce a relaxed state of mind and provide the student an opportunity to practice ESP in a setting that does not require the personal presence of a teacher. With the course are ESP tests designed to be taken alone by the student and then sent in to Ryzl for analysis. Although over a thousand people have taken this course during the past several years, and some of these have sent test data in to Ryzl. Ryzl has not yet conducted an analysis of his data.
The content of this program is far more acceptable to the professional researcher than the other more popular ESP training packages but, perhaps as a consequence of this, the program itself is less charismatic and inspiring -- lacking, as it does, the elements of personal contact and a spiritual foundation.
References
Ryzl, M. How to develop ESP in yourself and others. San Jose, Calif.: author, 1977. (Originally published, 1972.) Ryzl, M. A method of training ESP. International Journal of Parapsychology, 1966, 8, 501-532.
Ryzl, M. Review of some ESP experiments with a hypnotically prepared subject. Journal of the American Society of Psychosomatic Dentistry and Medicine, 1976, 23, 40-53.
Ryzl, M. Training the psi faculty by hypnosis. Journal of the Society for Psychical Research, 1962, 41, 232-252.
Ryzl, M., and Ryzlova, J. A case of high-scoring ESP performance in the hypnotic state. Journal of Parapsychology, 1962, 26, 153-171.