Examining the Psychological Foundations of Science and Morality is a progressive text that explores the relationship between psychology, science and morality, to address fundamental questions about the foundations of psychological research and its relevance for the development of these disciplines. Supported by original empirical evidence, the book analyses the relationship of folk psychology to rational knowledge, outlining an original theory that connects psychology and natural sciences through the mind which creates a psychological foundation for scientific knowledge and morality. It argues that science and religion have a common psychological core of subjective experience, which diversifies into knowledge, beliefs and morality. The book considers how subjective space and time are converted into physical space and time, and how subjective 'sense of causation' is shaped into physical causality and human communication. Further, it explores the mind as a complex system of contrasting realities, with the main function being existence attribution (EXON). The chapters delve into a range of topics including theoretical analysis of consciousness, the internal self, unexplainable phenomena, analysis of empirical research into causality, morality and the mind. The book will be of great interest to postgraduate and upper-level undergraduate students studying foundations of psychology, consciousness, philosophy of science, morality, as well as professionals who deal with influence on mass consciousness or are interested in the link between human psychology, scientific knowledge and morality.

Examining the Psychological Foundations of Science and Morality is a progressive text that explores the relationship between psychology, science and morality, to address fundamental questions about the foundations of psychological research and its relevance for the development of these disciplines. Supported by original empirical evidence, the book analyses the relationship of folk psychology to rational knowledge, outlining an original theory that connects psychology and natural sciences through the mind which creates a psychological foundation for scientific knowledge and morality. It argues that science and religion have a common psychological core of subjective experience, which diversifies into knowledge, beliefs and morality. The book considers how subjective space and time are converted into physical space and time, and how subjective 'sense of causation' is shaped into physical causality and human communication. Further, it explores the mind as a complex system of contrasting realities, with the main function being existence attribution (EXON). The chapters delve into a range of topics including theoretical analysis of consciousness, the internal self, unexplainable phenomena, analysis of empirical research into causality, morality and the mind. The book will be of great interest to postgraduate and upper-level undergraduate students studying foundations of psychology, consciousness, philosophy of science, morality, as well as professionals who deal with influence on mass consciousness or are interested in the link between human psychology, scientific knowledge and morality.

Human Interaction with the Divine, the Sacred, and the Deceased brings together cutting-edge empirical and theoretical contributions from scholars in fields including psychology, theology, ethics, neuroscience, medicine, and philosophy, to examine how and why humans engage in, or even seek spiritual experiences and connection with the immaterial world. In this richly interdisciplinary volume, Plante and Schwartz recognize human interaction with the divine and departed as a cross-cultural and historical universal that continues to concern diverse disciplines. Accounting for variances in belief and human perception and use, the book is divided into four major sections: personal experience; theological consideration; medical, technological, and scientific considerations; and psychological considerations with chapters addressing phenomena including prayer, reincarnation, sensed presence, and divine revelations. Featuring scholars specializing in theology, psychology, medicine, neuroscience, and ethics, this book provides a thoughtful, compelling, evidence-based, and contemporary approach to gain a grounded perspective on current understandings of human interaction with the divine, the sacred, and the deceased. Of interest to believers, questioners, and unbelievers alike, this volume will be key reading for researchers, scholars, and academics engaged in the fields of religion and psychology, social psychology, behavioral neuroscience, and health psychology. Readers with a broader interest in spiritualism, religious and non-religious movements will also find the text of interest.

First published in 1982, Intrusions examines a wide range of cases down through history, showing how ordinary people have regarded the paranormal in contrast with 'official' attitudes, and how society as a whole has attempted to deal with happenings that are inexplicable in terms of current scientific or religious theory. He discusses questions such as What did Shakespeare's audience feel about Hamlet's father's ghost? Why did a renewed interest in magic follow 'the age of enlightenment?' How did Victorian science respond to spiritualism, and why has scientific psychical research, when it finally came, encountered continued opposition? Drawing on reports and accounts of very kind, Mr. Evans gives an authentic account of prevailing attitudes, focussing for the first time directly on the experiences and points of view of ordinary people. He demonstrates that society has been, and still is, badly served by the intellectual establishment in matters relating to the paranormal. Although there are signs that the situation is improving, there is still a dismaying degree of reluctance even to investigate, let alone accept, these phenomena, yet they continue to occur, and people continue to seek explanations for them. This book will be of interest to anyone interested in the mysteries of the paranormal as well as to students of parapsychology, history and literature.

In this innovative study, Colombian technology writer Mauricio Loza pursues an intriguing thesis on the origin of psychology and modern media, namely that they arise from the magical arts of the Renaissance, and it is there that we must seek what Ioan Culianu called "the prototype of the impersonal systems of the media, of indirect censorship, of global manipulation and of the trusts that exercise their occult control over the Western masses." The Hounds of Actaeon takes up Culianu's thesis to trace a history that unites such Renaissance luminaries as Marsilio Ficino and Giordano Bruno with modern thinkers, including Sigmund Freud, Wilhelm Reich, and Guy Debord. It covers a broad historical and intellectual terrain ranging from the Renaissance magic, through eighteenth-century medicine and nineteenth-century psychology, to the propaganda and media warfare of the twentieth century, proving that the modern era, secular in appearance, continues to be profoundly influenced by pre-modern ways of thinking. The importance of this study is twofold: on the one hand it elaborates a fresh perspective on certain themes of Renaissance erotic magic and its relation to mass psychology and psychoanalysis, while, on the other, it offers an alternative for the study of the media strategies that determine Western worldviews and behaviors.

The Psychic Immune System theorizes the existence of a hidden variable that acts via both unconscious and conscious processes to protect humans individually and collectively from mortal threats. Much like the physical immune system, the psychic immune system scans for danger, protects, heals, and ensures human safety and survival. Kroth argues that it isn't just luck that has enabled people to survive the multitude of epidemics, wars, and environmental disasters that could have resulted in extinction, but rather the work of a complex system that has enabled us to survive. Scrutinizing a variety of past and present threats, Kroth points to traces of a systematic force that has protected humans. Recommended for scholars of psychology, history, and political science.

Spirited Histories combines ethnography with critical theory to provide a sophisticated exploration of the intersection of haunting and the paranormal with technology, media, and history. Retrieving the past in places of trauma and death can take on many facets. One of these is an attention to hauntings, ghosts, and absences that go with the collective experience of loss and disappearance. People memorialize the dead and their stories in myriad ways. But what about the untold stories, or the forgotten, unnamed? This book explores the ways groups of Chilean paranormal investigators and ghost tour operators produce alternate histories using paranormal machinery, rather than simply theatricalizing pain. It offers a look at technologies, machines, and apparatuses - themselves imbued with a long history of supernatural and scientific expectations - and a social analysis of how certain groups of people marshal the voices of the dead to generate particular micro-histories. This fascinating volume will be of interest to a range of disciplines, including anthropology, sociology, history, religious studies, and scholars of technology and new media.

Reports of paranormal experiences vary tremendously, but are often associated with ghosts, haunted houses, and otherwise eerie circumstances. There exist both classic and modern texts on ghosts and haunted or possessed people, places and spaces; many discuss traditional ideas regarding such phenomena or utilize now-outdated research in highly academic and technical ways. This book offers a very different approach in reviews provided by a leading-edge research program devoted to who has ghostly experiences and why. With new insights both global in scale and multidisciplinary in scope, this collaboration by five researchers uncovers consistent evidence that anomalous experiences represent a very real "Haunted People Syndrome"-a term describing anomalous experiences that manifest recurrently to the same percipients and are interpreted as "ghostly"-with implications for future research across academia. The participation of new citizen scientists (the field investigators and researchers among us) is invited in furthering the exploration of paranormal mysteries. Photos and figures illustrating concepts and models are included, as is a glossary.

Based on ethnographic research, this book examines the paranormal investigation subculture in the US. Presenting interviews with investigators as well as extensive field observations, it explores their reasons for getting involved, their use of different investigative methods, the interpretive processes by which they individually and collectively 'sense' spirits, the ways in which these processes are influenced by small group power dynamics, and what paranormal investigation ultimately means to those who participate. While focusing on the practices by which investigators 'sense' spirits in small groups, the author also situates paranormal investigation within a broader cultural context and attends to how investigators attempt to legitimize their practice despite being marginalized by both science and religion. A fascinating study of ghosts as an inherently social phenomenon, Sensing Spirits will appeal to sociologists with interests in ethnography, interactionism, cultural studies and subcultures.

- The first student-focused textbook on Transpersonal Psychology - Introduces students and instructors to contemporary developments of the field and anticipates future advances - Suitable as a core text for Transpersonal Psychology/Humanistic Psychology modules, or as a supplementary text for core Psychology modules

Originally published in 1951, Homo Faber is an examination of the scientific outlook on human mental evolution through the lens of parapsychology. The book aims to undermine what its terms, the 'scientific outlook' examining the human interpretation of the world, and the preconceived scientific concepts that reality does not extend beyond the realm that our senses reveal. The book expands upon this and moves to examine the broader human understanding of the entire cosmos, challenging the scientific conception that this can be grasped in principal by human intellect, arising from the chance combination of material particles. The book argues that the scientific outlook prevents humans from discovering in the Universe the meaning and purpose which are everywhere to be found if sought in the appropriate contemplative states of mind. This book provides a unique take on the examination of human psychology and the evolution of the brain from an alternative scientific stance. It will be of interest to anthropologists, historians and psychologists alike.

Originally published in 1982, The Shaman and the Magician draws on the author's wide experience of occultism, western magic and anthropological knowledge of shamanism, to explore the interesting parallels between traditional shamanism and the more visionary aspects of magic in modern western society. In both cases, as the author shows, the magician encounters profound god-energies of the spirit, and it is up to the individual to interpret these experiences in psychological or mythological terms. The book demonstrates that both shamanism and magic offer techniques of approaching the visionary sources of our culture.

Originally published in 1978, The Occult Sourcebook has been compiled primarily for the many people who are for the first time becoming engrossed by the numerous and often confusing possibilities underlying the occult sciences. It consists of a series of articles on key areas, providing the reader with easy access to basic facts, together with a carefully planned guide to further reading. Critical comments on the recommended books allow the reader to select those which best suit their interests. The authors have also included a 'Who's Who of the occult' to provide short biographies of some of the more amazing figures who have already travelled down the mystic path. The book offers a programmed system of exploration into the realms of the unknown. It will be invaluable to the increasing number of people who are concerned with the exploration of enlarging human consciousness.

Presents a novel framework for conceptualizing issues that have traditionally been considered by separate disciplines including psychology, philosophy, psychiatry, psychotherapy and theology. For the first time existential statuses of objects (absolute, strong, incomplete, weak and super-weak) are distinguished, and applied to describe various phenomena in science, religion and psychology.

Presents a novel framework for conceptualizing issues that have traditionally been considered by separate disciplines including psychology, philosophy, psychiatry, psychotherapy and theology. For the first time existential statuses of objects (absolute, strong, incomplete, weak and super-weak) are distinguished, and applied to describe various phenomena in science, religion and psychology.

- The first student-focused textbook on Transpersonal Psychology - Introduces students and instructors to contemporary developments of the field and anticipates future advances - Suitable as a core text for Transpersonal Psychology/Humanistic Psychology modules, or as a supplementary text for core Psychology modules

"A layman will no doubt find it hard to understand how pathological disorders of the body and mind can be eliminated by 'mere' words. He will feel that he is being asked to believe in magic. And he will not be so very wrong for the words which we use in our everyday speech are nothing more than watered down magic." (Freud) This book provides further developments of such ideas, including Freud's uncanny, Jung's synchronicity, Daniels' transpersonal, Clarke's mindfulness and Sollod's anomalous experiences. The paranormal could be seen as being fundamental to the psychological therapies. Occasionally a writer brings this potential to our attention but questions of science, evidence-based practice, etc. continue to dominate. Yet does this continue to lead to 'what's denied running even more wild'? Further, might the lessening of the paranormal be primarily what is lost, the aura, through the increase in internet therapy? The question of the paranormal and the psychological therapies continues to persist, not only for psychoanalysis but the psychological therapies in general. This book attempts to address that. The chapters in this book, apart from a new introduction and a new chapter, were originally published in the European Journal of Psychotherapy and Counselling.

When radio broadcasting began in the early 1920s, the radio was a magic box aglow with the future, drawing humanity into a new age. Some thought it would dissolve the distance between time and place, others that human minds would become transparent, one tuned to another. Performers claiming psychic powers turned radio broadcasting into a fabulous money machine. These "mentalists," born from vaudeville, circuses, sideshows, and the Spiritualist and New Thought movements of the mid-late 19th century, used the language of wireless technology to explain their ability to see the past, present, and future. Casting their mystical knowledge as a scientifically honed craft, these mentalists persuaded millions to pay for dubious advice until governmental and public pressures forced them off the air. This book is a history of over 25 performers who practiced their art behind studio microphones during the early years of radio broadcasting, from about 1920 to 1940. Here, laid out for the first time, is the tale of how they made cash rain from the heavens and harnessed the sensation of the radio in search of wealth, health, love, and success.

The Deja vu Experience, Second Edition covers the latest scientific discoveries regarding the strange sense of familiarity most of us have felt at one time or another when doing something for the first time. The book sheds light on this mysterious phenomenon, considering the latest neurophysiological investigations and research on possible reasons why deja vu is often associated with a sense of predicting the future or knowing what happens next. In addition to summarizing the major historical and contemporary theoretical approaches to the deja vu experience, this book aspires to stimulate additional research on this curious subjective phenomenon. Drawing on research from a range of fields including psychology, philosophy, and religion, it aims to demystify some of the more unsettling, spooky-seeming aspects of the deja vu experience, elucidating possible mechanisms and underlying reasons for its occurrence. This edition has been thoroughly updated throughout to include over 200 new professional articles and book chapters related to deja vu that have been published in the 18 years since the original book. By placing the scientific study of deja vu within its historical context and covering a broad range of perspectives on the subject, this title will be invaluable to upper-level undergraduates, postgraduates, and researchers of Cognitive Psychology, specifically those focusing on Memory Phenomena.

During the 1930s a new approach to exploring human consciousness began at Duke University with Professor J. B. Rhine's experimental research on extra-sensory perception, or ESP. His findings on telepathy, clairvoyance, precognition and psychokinesis challenged conventional disbelief. Rhine's findings and his first popular book, New Frontiers of the Mind, ignited excitement and controversy-among not only scientists but the public at large. Rhine's letters chronicle his efforts to find reliable evidence of psychic ability, from the seance room to psychic animals and finally to a university research laboratory. Covering the years 1923-1939, they reveal a gripping story of groundbreaking research, told in the words of the main player as he worked with his team, subjects, critics and supporters alike.

This book consists of a collection of essays informing readers as to the contemporary status of selected cutting-edge issues in parapsychology (or "psi research"). Each chapter comprehensively reviews a controversial topic from a critical stance, and updates its status based on the latest theoretical and empirical considerations. Chapter authors are authoritative experts in their fields who have captured the complexity and importance of their topics. This is a resource for both the serious scholar and interested follower of psi research, containing in-depth analyses and discussions of topics that cannot be found elsewhere. Topics include cross-examinations of psychical investigations; a meta-analysis of anomalous information collected by mediums; an examination of the relationships between parapsychology, quantum theory and neuroscience; and a study of psychics' involvement in police investigations.

For over thirty years G. N. M. Tyrrell devoted himself to the study of psychical phenomena. Originally published in 1954, in his last book, written just before his death, he probes as deeply as possible into the meaning of the results of psychical research. He believes that paranormal phenomena are not isolated occurrences due to the exceptional gifts of a few unusual persons but the result of capacities which all human beings possess, though in widely varying degrees. After an introductory chapter on Psychology and Psychiatry, the chief psychical phenomena - extra-sensory perception, mediumship, apparitions, etc. - are discussed and illustrated. Then follows a general criticism of current attitudes towards the subject. The book ends with two chapters arguing that the normal and paranormal are one and suggesting a pathway to religion.

Originally published in 1992, Channeling is a comprehensive bibliography on the subject of channeling. The book defines channeling as any message received or conveyed from transcendent entities and covers material on the history of channeling, those that have claimed to transcend death, contact with UFOs and contemporary channeling groups. The book acts as a research guide and seeks to outline the historical roots of channeling, explaining its major teachings and considers its significance as a spiritual movement. It provides sources from books, booklets, articles, and ephemeral material and offers a comprehensive list of both primary and secondary materials related to channeling, the bibliography takes the most diverse and useful sources of the time. This volume although published almost 30 years ago, still provides a unique and insightful collection for academics of religion, in particular those researching spiritualism and the occult.

Throughout the 20th century and into the new millennium, humanity has made enormous advancements in science and technology. Spiritual enlightenment, however, has gone relatively neglected, as fascination with material progress tends to keep us focused on the physical world, giving less importance to universal values, to being, to spiritual life. Parapsychological research has produced significant findings over the last few decades, and science has the obligation to continue exploring this area, seeking to contribute to the spiritual enlightenment of humanity. This book examines evidence of traditional psychic phenomena, promoting a more comprehensive understanding of them, and offering new perspective to see ourselves as particles of "universal energy," interconnected with all others.