Parapsychology: When myth and reality tend to join

Parapsychology, claiming submit the "paranormal" phenomena in a scientific methodology, is certainly one of the most controversial in this field. Its longevity makes it both an essential representative of the unexplained, but also a weak link as its progress since its birth seem poor. Should we consider that this discipline is a "decoy" scientific and not based on anything concrete? Phenomena "psi", that research will seek to demonstrate through laboratory experiments, they belong to the myth? Why, then, many structures in the world do they continue to give these budgets if substantial work?

Yves Lignon, a member of the Department of Mathematics at the University Mirail in Toulouse, editor of the Journal of Parapsychology French, founder of GEEPP-Parapsychology Laboratory in Toulouse

Jacques Louys, psychiatrist, vice president of the French Association of Private Practice Psychiatrists

Varvoglis Mario, Ph.D. in experimental psychology, President of the International Psychic Institute, author of "The rationality of the irrational"

Mario Varvoglis intervention (excerpt)

We read or see here and there that the U.S. military have committed resources to create "media spies". Should we consider this information as serious or as the product of popular imagination, even in science fiction?

No, it is not science fiction. In fact, for now all we know of these projects a small part of what has actually occurred. Essentially the project Stargate, which was launched in the early 70s and lasted until 95, was a research project and applying state-funded and especially by the U.S. Defense Intelligence Agency that includes all agencies Intelligence in the United States. The goal, of course, was to use the psychic ability of some people for military purposes, especially intelligence applications. Why send spies in the USSR, if you can get the same information from us, simply by clairvoyance? Of course, some did not understand how parapsychology has crept into the world of hyper-rational and square of the army, but the Americans have a very practical side, they judge by results. It is clear that there was more and more "customers" who came to seek information from those few members who were selected from among the hundreds tested, as "seers". In other words, the success of the "seers" were sufficiently remarkable that the CIA or DIA or other intelligence organizations, consistently returning for the new, can you give us a helping hand on someone that has lost the Middle East, or from a new Russian submarine will be launched soon, or against Noriega in Panama is hidden and we do not know how to find?

So we talk about information parapsychological very practical, very down to earth. The program ranged between basic and applied research, focusing on the psi-responsive, that is to say, the information we can perceive distance, compared to other countries, compared to activities of a terrorist group, etc..

The program lasted 24 years, and published results show that these indicators-military, highly selected, the results were consistently positive. What is known of this issue is finally released in July 1995 under pressure from the U.S. Senate. Before that date, even we, the researchers working in other laboratories, did not know much ... colleagues who were involved can not talk specifically about what they were doing in this program. We knew that research existed, but we do not know the details.

Intervention by Yves Lignon (excerpt)

Question: An object that comes to mind for many neophytes, and that fuels the criticism of skeptics is the fact that parapsychology is a science that is no longer young. Compared to other scientific disciplines, it seems to stagnate and never have to earn proper recognition. Where is the crux of the problem? You mentioned just now, Mr. Lignon of "blocking". What are they?

The ideological blockage prevents the development of institutions working on parapsychology, but the problem you raise is a real underlying problem and I think that we should not deny it. By the proponents of parapsychology answer "yes new sciences all skate" is in my view an epistemological cop because he is clear that parapsychology since its inception, say around 1850, is progressing more slowly than it has progressed any other scientific approach in the past.

ER: You may even say it's an admission of failure.

Oh no, no this is not an admission of failure, it is rather a finding of a difference from which follows, in my opinion, a huge question mark. It is true that scientific thought as soon as she has tackled a problem has always advanced at speed and (considering, of course, the historic environment) you could almost set an average speed of advance of science. And what is equally true is that parapsychology is located well below this average speed. This slowness is among the epistemological problems faced by researchers. A friend of mine who worked with me in Toulouse and who now takes care of parapsychology in Quebec, had found a comparison that seems very relevant. When asked where in the parapsychology was he answered: "We picked up stones at the foot of a mountain, we studied these rocks and we know everything about them, absolutely all, we know they come from the same mountain of the mountain but we know nothing. " We must recognize that fact in any other discipline we would already be in the exploration of the mountain and, therefore, accept to question. In my case I admit that intellectually I stop there because I have no doubt neither the training nor the skills to go further but we must not close our eyes. When our opponents emphasize our slowness they scratch the itchy area and have reason to do so.

Speech by Jacques Louys (excerpt)

Question: Are you interested in parapsychology and personally have had the same opportunity to review some experiments that refer to it. How the psychiatrist that you can address this area, given the fact that all the psychiatrists seem closed to the discipline?

I am a private psychiatrist and I look for when searching in the French Association of Psychiatrists in private practice where you do not this closing, we feel quite free for scientific work about it and we do not at all institutional obstacles. But it has perhaps against conceptual blockages. I'll try to say about it two to three words.

First, I'm not interested in parapsychology since yesterday, but well before. I had already done a master when I was young on the Holy healers and the healing powers, so it's a subject that interests me a long time, especially under this aspect of the gift of healing. This is often a gift of psychotherapy or psychosomatothérapie, so in my field. This is an important topic a bit and I interview my colleagues happy about it. I ask them if they think they have a gift and how they live, and what family they come? In a lot of my colleagues I realized they came from families where we discussed already in parapsychology between the wars and who were quite aware of these things, who have mothers showy, etc.. So this is an area that we are not abroad and on which there would be no inhibition to work scientifically if we were able to do. But we lack a bit of mental frameworks to do so because. We are working it from the perspective of the disease: does a paranormal ability is a symptom, that is to say, it hurts people? We discussed this very interesting about NDEs: how can it make people suffer after reaching their narcissistic, the achievement of their ego boundaries. On the other hand, is it that people who are mentally ill develop particularly parapsychological faculties? These are questions that intrigue us, on some points as clairvoyance or the gift of healing. I even think we can talk about what type of defenses autistic, autistic ways to defend themselves in life, Take the mode of defense of clairvoyance that appears by flashes. The core of clairvoyance, it is the flash. This is very common. You said it was rare. I wonder actually how many people actually in the population flashes of clairvoyance type. The more I considered it, the more I asked about this, the more I found! On short runs, I can see that from 10 to 20% of people can demonstrate this type of thing. This is something that deserves considerable and extensive studies on panels. We do not know what to do with it: people do not know what to do, people who go further, making something, begin to draw cards. There are still many who go beyond to experience flashes and there is much more showy than psychiatrists for example.

People who develop a gift of healing are often personnesqui went through clairvoyance or have flashes of clairvoyance; they develop from this a gift of healing. If you want to do scientific work on this, one can find in my opinion and demonstrate a continuity between autism, clairvoyance and the gift of healing. So of course it concerns us, we who are therapists.