#94 Sociological Research on Remarkable Experiences with Dr. Jim McClenon

Dr. James McClenon, sociologist and author of The Entity Letters, A Sociologist on the Trail of a Supernatural Mystery

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Fahrusha was happy to welcome Dr. James McClenon to Shattered Reality Podcast for the second time to discuss the different way that a sociologist researches paranormal and anomalous experiences. He was the guest on an earlier show in which he discusses his excellent book The Entity Letters, A Sociologist on the Trail of a Supernatural Mystery.

We covered a variety of topics from healing to shamanism to UFOs to out of body experiences and extrasensory perception but with a focus on the near death experience (NDE), all from the perspective of sociology. McClenon worked by collecting the extraordinary experiences of individuals by distributing questionaires. He had his students distribute questionaires as well. At first most of the answers came from a rural area in North Carolina where he taught. Later he distributed questionaires from a teaching cruise ship that sailed around the world making stops at a variety of locations. The conclusions he came to were from a different point of view than those of parapsychologists, philosophers or physicists. It was very refreshing to look at these subjects from a differing perspective. Most surprising, perhaps, is his assertion that in other cultures individuals don’t necessarily remember their near death experiences as paradigm changing events that were hyper-real. As a person who has had transcendent experiences but not an NDE, I (Fahrusha) cannot judge this, but it seems counter to other research.

Much of the material we covered on this episode can be found in Dr. McClenon’s book Wondrous Healing.

Wondrous Healing by Dr. James McClenon

Several listeners have expressed interest in participating in our “Listeners’ Corner”. If you would like to relate your paranormal or anomalous experience on “Shattered Reality Podcast”, please email me at fahrusha@fahrusha.com. You can write down your experience and we can read it for you on the show, or you can come on the show and speak it yourself. We also encourage comments.

 

#91 Dale E. Graff on Remote Viewing and Dreams

Dale E. Graff, author, engineer, physicist, contract manager for Project Stargate and prodigious dreamer

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Fahrusha was thrilled to welcome Dale E. Graff to Shattered Reality Podcast. For several years she has been an appreciative audience to his presentations at symposia of IRVA (International Remote Viewing Association) APP (Applied Precognition Project) and SSE (Society for Scientific Exploration). Dale is the author of two books: Tracks In The Psychic Wilderness (1998) and River Dreams (2000) as well as numerous papers.

Dale E. Graff is a physicist (Drexel) and an aeronautical engineer (Pennsylvania State University). He helped design the Gemini Space Capsule and did pre-planning for the space shuttle. He is an avid outdoorsman who has navigated many Canadian rivers in a canoe, this in spite of having been born a premature baby who was declared dead upon arrival. He was totally determined to defy the odds and still displays great vitality today as he approaches his 85th birthday.

Even as a small child he was a prodigious dreamer and had out of body experiences. After elementary school he began his serious interest in science, which eventually took him to Wright-Paterson Air Force Base where he wrote a forecast document on the Soviet use of ESP research. Through a synchronicity, this led him to become first a contract manager and later a tasker for government remote viewing projects including Project Stargate which he named.

Today Dale E. Graff is retired from that work, but ardently pursuing dream research and asking important questions about the nature of consciousness. We at Shattered Reality Podcast are hoping to have Dale back soon for Part 2, which will focus on dreaming, the nature of consciousness and how to dream more proficiently.

Note: The anti-fragility proponent mentioned by Fahrusha is Wim Hof.

Listeners who wish to participate in our “Listeners’ Corner” feature are asked to contact Fahrusha (fahrusha@fahrusha.com) and put “Listeners’ Corner” in subject heading.

Fahrusha and Dale Graff at the Society for Scientific Exploration 2019 Symposium.

#81 Rupert Sheldrake- Science and Spiritual Practices.

 

Rupert Sheldrake, PhD, Author of 12 books including Science and Spiritual Practices:Transformative Experiences and their Effects on our Bodies, Brains and Health

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Fahrusha was very pleased to welcome Rupert Sheldrake, PhD, to “Shattered Reality Podcast” to speak about his new book Science and Spiritual Practices:Transformative Experiences and their Effects on our Bodies, Brains and Health and other related topics. We began our conversation with an explanation of the hypothesis of morphic resonance in biology.

We continued onward to expound on the seven rather universal spiritual practices that can have transformative effects on one’s mental and physical health. Most basic of these practices is meditation, the sort which can silence the mind’s chatter and promote joy. Next comes gratitude which can be practiced as prayer, grace before meals, or simply earnestly thanking individuals for small or large acts that they have done.

“More than human” is the practice in which a person relates to the 99.9999% percent of the Universe which is not human or about human beings. This is probably my favorite. A sub-category is relating to plants as living beings. These first four practices can be accomplished solo, but Sheldrake is clear about the way in which doing things in community with others brings added benefits to the practioner.

Among the group practices are the practice of rituals with other humans, although it is possible to do some rituals solo. Singing, chanting and music have amazing effect on the human being and the benefits are multiplied when groups participate together. Going on pilgrimages and visiting holy places can be done alone or with a group. The practice of walking meditation is one that bridges both the category of meditation and pilgrimage.

Rupert Sheldrake, PhD, is the author of 13 books including his newest: Ways to Go Beyond and Why They Work: Seven Spiritual Practices in a Scientific Age which is only on order currently in the UK.

Rupert Sheldrake, PhD, and Fahrusha, after small group dinner in NYC. Courtesy of Andrew Dornenburg

Errata: During the introduction to this episode of “Shattered Reality Podcast” Fahrusha mistakenly said that it was the 82nd episode when in fact it was the 81st.

Any listeners to “Shattered Reality Podcast” are welcomed and encouraged to submit the names of thoughtful researchers into the Mandela Effect to be possible guests on the show.

#77 Mary Rose Barrington and Psychokinesis

Mary Rose Barrington, author of J.O.T.T. (Just One of Those Things)

 

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Fahrusha and “Shattered Reality Podcast” were pleased to welcome Mary Rose Barrington to “Shattered Reality Podcast”. Mary Rose has been both a solicitor and a barrister in Great Britain as well as a President of the Oxford University Society for Psychical Research. She is now listed as a Vice President of the Society for Psychical Research of Great Britain. Her new book, J.O.T.T. (Just One of Those Things) is published by Anomalist Books.

We discussed a number of instances of simple household psychokinesis that were included in the book and which were studiously collected by Mary Rose over years of research. She has classified these instances of psychokinesis she calls Jottles into categories: Flyaway, Windfall, Comeback, Walkabout and Trade-In. The Flyaway is an item that simply vanishes and as such it is hardest to prove because one could have simply lost it. The Windfall is some object that appears in a place where it is unknown to have been and is not recognized by the householder. One person’s Flyaway could be another’s Windfall. An example of this would be if the can opener disappears from Linda’s kitchen (Flyaway) and appears on Joe’s doorstep a mile away (Windfall). Not all Windfalls can be traced to point of origin however and Windfalls are also know in psychical research as apports. The Comeback is a Flyaway that comes back to the location from which it has vanished at a later point in time, after the area has been thoroughly searched. A Walkabout is an item which appears in a place where it wasn’t put by the owner or anyone else and to be interesting appears in an impossible location. Finally, a Trade-In is when a similar but different object is found in the place of the one that has gone missing.

We also discussed possible reasons for these phenomena. The fundamental reality is consciousness, and the mind controls the matter, opines Mary Rose Barrington; and we do not disagree. Fahrusha gave an account of an unusual jottle that happened to her nearly 20 years ago.

We await the return of Kate Valentine to the show.

#74 Dr. James McClenon and SORRAT

 

Dr. James McClenon, sociologist and author of The Entity Letters, A Sociologist on the Trail of a Supernatural Mystery.

To listen click HERE.

Kate Valentine and Fahrusha welcomed Dr. James McClenon to Shattered Reality Podcast.  He has written a book called The Entity Letters, A Sociologist on the Trail of a Supernatural Mystery. It is the story of a group of individuals, the SORRAT sitter group (Society for Research on Rapport and Telekinesis) who engaged in 50 years telekinetic experimentation. The witnessed effects included table tipping and levitation, poltergeist phenomena, earthquake effects and rapping. Most amazingly then entities purportedly communicated with the members of the SORRAT group by mail! Interestingly just about everyone who actually sat in with the SORRAT group over the course of time came to accept the phenomena as real, whereas everyone who did not experience the phenomena in person, tended to believe that it was impossible and therefore, falsified.
Dr. James McClenon faithfully documents his experiences with the group from the viewpoint of a sociologist. He was unable to discover any plausible method by which all of the phenomena could have been falsified. Though any individual phenomenon could have been rigged, all of the phenomena together would have taken enormous skill and the co-operation of a number of individuals over there course of many years to falsify. He did not find any collusion between the participants, nor any sustained motivation to collude. Some of the phenomena happened at various locations, specifically occasions of the “rapping” which even occurred at McClenon’s home.

Shattered Reality Podcast invites listeners to send in their paranormal experiences which relate to the incidents surrounding the events of September 11, 2001. We will attempt to deal with this in a very respectful and tasteful manner. It is possible for listeners to relate their experiences directly on the show or to submit a written account to be read on the show. All accounts and questions should be emailed to fahrusha@fahrusha.com.

 

Schematic drawing of Dr. Edward Cox’s Mini-Lab (courtesy of George P. Hansen)

#72 George P. Hansen the Trickster

George P. Hansen, author of The Trickster and the Paranormal.

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Fahrusha and Kate Valentine were pleased to welcome illustrious author and paranormal investigator George P. Hansen to “Shattered Reality Podcast”. There was so much to speak about that it was difficult to fit it into an hour and fifteen minutes. Hansen looks at the paranormal from the view of anthropology and skepticism but never debunking. He views many of the phenomena of the paranormal as being affected and sometimes caused by the Trickster. He gives two compatible definitions of who or what the Trickster is, the first of which concerns the folk traditions of many, if not all, indigenous cultures around the world. Some of the famous folk tricksters are Loki of Norse mythology, the Coyote of the American Southwest, Iktomi (spider) of the Lakota and Ananzi (spider) of the Caribbean and Africa. These Tricksters are shapeshifters so they can appear in different guises. In his words “The trickster archetype is not designated by immediately observable physical features.  Rather it is a more abstract constellation of characteristics that is usually personified (i.e., identified with a person or animal).”  His second definition is a bit more ephemeral to explain. It includes many aspects of psi including boundary crossing, irrationality, fakery, change and instability and it is, by its very nature, non-binary.

We tackle many subjects, especially including UFOs. For instance these objects are often seen to be shapeshifting, and some might be interstellar or not, and of course they may have more than one origin and they often appear at times of great change. The purported occupants may lie to humans or their communication may seem absurd or be misunderstood. They often appear to people when those people are in altered states of consciousness, as in the liminal state.

 

Book cover, The Trickster and the Paranormal by George P. Hansen.

 

#35 Dr. Stanley Krippner, Parapsychologist

Stanley Krippner, PhD., is a renowned expert on parapsychology.

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“Shattered Reality Podcast” is delighted to present Dr. Stanley Krippner who speaks to Fahrusha and Kate Valentine about his studies in parapsychology. He has written and co-written a very impressive list of books and professional psychological papers.

We cover some of his work in dream studies. Beginning with his dream telepathy research with Montague Ullman and at the Dream Lab at Maimonides Medical Center in Brooklyn and continuing with his work today with an amazing female dreamer in Arizona, Dr. Stan gives wonderful examples of powerfully psychic dreams that will stimulate you to journal your sleeping adventures for further contemplation.

Dr. Krippner also discusses some of his shamanic studies and his long term friendship with Rolling Thunder, a colorful Native American shaman and cultural icon. He wrote a book about this called The Voice of Rolling Thunder with Sidian Morningstar Jones.

Dr. Stanley Krippner’s website can be accessed here for a list of his books and articles to read and more. He will be giving a talk on “Dreams from Another Dimension?” at the Morbid Anatomy Museum in Brooklyn on August 11, 2016.

Dr. Stanley Krippner, world famous parapsychologist.