************************************************************************ The following first appeared in the private email list IVy-subscribers, which is available to all those who subscribe to the printed magazine, International Viewpoints. ************************************************************************ An interesting experiment into the nature of consciousness by Phil Spickler 23 Jan 2000 Hello, anyone! Back in the '70's (the 1970's, that is) there was something going on in the world called the Cold War, in which the two major antagonists, namely the USA and the former USSR, fenced with one another directly and without use of bombs, bullets or swords, and sometimes indirectly through client nations that fought real battles with blood and death. Like most wars, the long-range intention seemed to be which country and its political philosophy would control the greatest amount of Earth and its peoples. Both countries, in an effort to get an edge or an advantage on the other, took to investigating psychic phenomena to determine if all the claims for it might make it posssible to use it as a weapon. Some of the possibilities would be developing the supernormal or psychic abilities of certain persons who either individually or in a group might be able, for example, to cause the death or at least serious mental disturbance or physical disturbance in a leader or troublesome person, as viewed in the enemy country or client nation. Much larger effects were even theorized, in which large numbers of people might be caused to think or feel a certain way without having any idea why. I think, as an aside, a lot of that goes on anyway. But back to the story. Sometime in the '70's a book was written called _Psychic Research Behind the Iron Curtain_. It was well-written, in my opinion; it had some interesting pictures of what purported to be psychic experiments in action, and was just the tip of the iceberg of what was really going on in this area. In the United States, the DoD was secretly funding quite a bit of this sort of stuff, and even became interested in a few Scientologists who had gone public with paranormal abilities; and quite a bit of research was going on at the Stanford Research Institute concerning remote viewing. I shall probably never know just how far either government really got with this research, but it is interesting to know that it was ongoing, and may or may not explain some of the effects in the world that have been observed since. One experiment that has been well documented concerning the ability of conscious life forms to create effects at a great distance goes as follows: The Russians set up an experiment whereby a mother rabbit had a bunch of babies, and some of her babies were transported a long distance away, ultimately arriving in a submarine that was cruising underwater. The mother rabbit was hooked up to some devices that would be quite similar to an E-meter. A few of her babies were now located seven or eight thousand miles away, on a submarine. At a very carefully timed moment, one of the babies was violently killed; and at that very instant, all the meters and paraphernalia hooked up to the mother rabbit went wild, as well as recording things like heart rate and blood pressure and respiration, suggesting that she had sustained quite a shock. Some hours or perhaps even a day later, at another very carefully timed moment, another baby was violently killed, and once again, massive responses by the mother rabbit were recorded. Now this particular experiment has had a lot written about it, and seemed to seriously suggest that it is possible for heavy-duty profound effects to be created by something on something else at great physical distance. It's been well documented and observed on the Internet that very unpleasant, as well as very pleasant, effects can be created on someone at great distances by simply causing words to appear on computer screens. It's also possible that other things are being transmitted to accompany those words that are not being carried by the Internet but by something you might call the ThetaNet or the EnthetaNet. I mention this experiment because I feel that it helps to lend some credence to the notion of hidden or invisible influences, no matter what name any particular individual or group wishes to give to them; and I think, experimentally speaking, when and if an individual identifies anything hidden that is influencing said person's life, livingness, and thoughts, that such an identification cannot fail to enhance further understanding, further self-determinism, and general increases in what might be called "health." This is not to say that all influences, hidden or otherwise, are bad; it's just to say that, experimentally speaking, it seems that there are such things, and that it could be a mistake to let such influences install denyers into the minds of people, preventing the possibility of experimentation and examination of such possibilities. A fine English author by the name of Colin Wilson wrote a very interesting book, also in the 1970's, called _Mind Parasites_. It so upstaged the OT 3 information that it went on the Scientology list of forbidden reading, and is, at the very least, a heck of an exciting adventure story, and at the very best comes close to describing some real possibilities. I encourage anyone who hasn't read it to give it a read. I hope my fellow experimenters will find this to be good food for thought and deed -- and let's talk some more about this in the days to come. As ever, Phil