Non-local
Consciousness, Dreams, Psi and Religion
Mark A. Schroll, PhD, USA,
His paper "Transpersonal Lessons in Philosophy of Science from an
11-Year Recurring Dream” was presented at the 22nd IASD
conference. He was Guest Editor of Anthropology of
Consciousness 16 (1) 2005. He is author of the book
Discovering the Transcendent and Transpersonality in Our Lives,
2006.
Robert Van de Castle, PhD, is
Professor Emeritus of the Health Sciences Center at the University
of Virginia. He is a Past President of IASD, co-author with Calvin
Hall of the dream classic The Content Analysis of Dreams,
the author of Our Dreaming Mind, and consulting editor of
the SUNY Press Series of Dreams.
Sally Rhine Feather, PhD,
USA, an experimental and clinical psychologist, is the daughter of
J. B. and Louisa E. Rhine, the founders of the Parapsychology Lab
at Duke University. She is currently the Director of Development
of the Rhine Research Center, Secretary of the RRC Board of
Directors and Manager of the Journal of Parapsychology.
Jayne Gackenbach, PhD,
professor at Grant MacEwan College, Canada, is a Past President of
the International Association for the Study of Dreams. In the last
ten years she has developed an expertise on the psychology of the
Internet after over twenty years of research and professional
activity in the areas of dreams.
Stanley Krippner, PhD, USA,
is professor of psychology at Saybrook Graduate School, a Past
President of IASD, and co-author of Dream Telepathy and
Extraordinary Dreams and How to Work with Them. In 2002 he
received the American Psychological Association’s award for
Distinguished Contributions to the International Advancement of
Psychology, and in 2003 the Ashley Montagu Peace Award.
Abstracts
How does psi’s existence
challenge not only our scientific view of reality but also our
religious view of reality? Robert Van de Castle discusses
occurrences of transpersonal images in dreams, specifically
focusing on people that have experienced angelic visions in their
dreams. These dreams may serve as examples of transpersonal
encounters; our deeper analysis of them could provide an
understanding of what some have referred to as “spiritual
emergence” and the transformative shift in our personality
constructs as a result. Sally Rhine Feather will discuss her
extensive accumulation of psi phenomena in the lives of ordinary
people; thereby assisting us in feeling less estranged by these
anomalous experiences. Jayne Gackenbach will discuss her
hypothesis that some (perhaps all) nightmares/dreams are related
to a non-local field of consciousness. Mark A. Schroll will weave
these presentations into a coherent theme and sum up their
paradigmatic implications based on non-locality’s experimental
evidence.
Jayne Gackenbach, PhD: Non-local
Consciousness and the Maharishi Effect
In 1960, Maharishi predicted that
one percent of a population practicing the Transcendental
Meditation technique would produce measurable improvements in the
quality of life for the whole population. This was hypothesized as
due to transcending into pure consciousness during meditation
practice. Pure consciousness is another term for non-local
consciousness. Over 20 research studies have examined this affect
on various quality of life measures while controlling for
potential confounding variables. In recent years the Maharishi
Effect has been examined in conjunction with the PEAR devices of
the Global Consciousness Project. This research program including
an examination of the methodological critiques of this research
will be presented along with the potential connections to dreams.
Sally Rhine Feather, PhD: The
Gift, The Extraordinary Experiences of Ordinary People
The Rhine Research Center’s
continuing collection of spontaneous psi reports provides valuable
information for better understanding the role of psi in human
consciousness, which often goes beyond anything possible with
other methods of data collection. Furthermore, this collection
provides a solid basis for offering advice and reassurance to the
concerned public that psi is a natural and normal human ability,
as this presentation will explain.
Mark A. Schroll, PhD:
Non-locality’s Implications for Understanding Psi, Consciousness
and Religion
Non-locality’s repeated
experimental verification has challenged the view that an
independent objective reality exists completely separate from the
perceiving subject. This presentation explores non-locality’s
implications for understanding psi, consciousness, and the
primordial tradition—a necessary first step toward establishing a
physical theory of the source of religion.
Robert L. Van de Castle:
Angels in the Night: Who Are These Inspirational Figures and What
Can We Learn From Them?
Accounts involving the appearance
of “angelic” figures have been recorded for thousands of years by
many cultural groups. These appearances are usually associated
with “miraculous” outcomes. This presentation will discuss
examples of their appearance in dreams, a state of consciousness
frequently associated with extraordinary outcomes that transcend
the usual parameters of possibilities encountered in waking
reality.
