Showing posts with label science. Show all posts
Showing posts with label science. Show all posts

Saturday, May 8, 2010

Humans as Multidimensional Beings

In thinking about the survival of human consciousness beyond the limits of our corporeal existence, I was reminded of Edwin Abbott’s book, Flatland, and the concept of perceiving dimensions beyond the 3 physical dimensions that we normally inhabit. In Flatland, the protagonist is a square who through the course of the story is visited by a sphere who proceeds to acquaint the square with the concept of a third dimension in Spaceland. In contemplating this story and the concept of spirits as energy in my preceding post, it occurred to me (as I’m sure it has to many others previously) that our spirit or consciousness may be another facet of a multidimensional being beyond our physical 3-dimensional existence. During our physical existence, our consciousness may be constrained – only to be released upon our physical deaths. Beyond that, our spirits may expand to some higher order dimension.


As a non-physicist, I don’t feel as if I’m doing this subject justice, but the possibility is just too intriguing to let go of it completely. Current theories in physics, such as string theory and M-theory predict that physical space in general has either 10 or 11 dimensions, respectively. In other words, that’s 7 or 8 spatial dimensions in addition to length, width, and height. The physical sciences are a long way from demonstrating the physical realities of these other dimensions, but they do offer a lot of possibilities for additional aspects of our spirits. Ghosts, apparitions, and psychic phenomena may therefore represent the intersection of one or more of these other dimensions with our 3-dimensional world. Returning to the example of Flatland, the sphere that visited the square resident of Flatland provides an apt analogy for this. To any resident of Flatland, the sphere would appear as a circle of varying circumference depending on the plane at which the 2 intersected (the intersection of a sphere and a plane in geometry being in fact, a sphere). Likewise, the intersection of a ghost or spirit with our 3-dimensional world would be a limited 3-D representation of that entity.

As always, this topic is open for comment or discussion!

Wednesday, April 28, 2010

Update to the blog

I've been scouring the web for the past week or so, trying to find the academic institutions and their offshoots who are researching paranormal phenomena of every stripe. Not surprisingly, the legitimate institutions (i.e., the ones making a fair attempt at employing the scientific method and rigorous scientific principles in their research) are few and far between. However, I have managed to cull together quite a few links of interest and have begun posting them. Over the coming days and weeks I will continue to add more as I find them. In the meantime, please feel free to contact me with suggestions for sites that may be of interest. Until then - enjoy!

Tuesday, April 20, 2010

Welcome to "Science of the Paranormal"

Thanks for stopping by to check out the new blog! Here's a little background on the rationale behind this venture and my hopes and aspirations as I move forward with it.

Over the years I've had quite a number of anecdotal experiences that I couldn't quite explain, and that ultimately left me with more questions than answers. Most of the serious literature and investigative journalism on these subjects amount to little more than sensationalized accounts with little to no real substance behind them. Legitimate rigorous scientific investigations of paranormal phenomena apparently do occur, but they are few and far between. The gaps are filled with a surplus of pseudoscience and dogmatic interpretations that leave little space for rational thought, consideration, and debate.

As for me, I'm trained as a scientist with a doctoral level degree in biology(although the relevance of my field of specialization to paranormal phenomena is highly debatable). Add to that about 25 years of intermittent experience in oriental martial arts and a fairly insatiable degree of curiosity. I've had friends, roommates, and aquaintances over the years who've gone on to careers in computer science, engineering, medicine, law, physics, finance, etc and I still get along with most of them (and can hold an intelligent conversation with each to boot!).

The goals behind putting this together were really quite simple:

Explore the available scientific data available regarding the paranormal
Educate myself on the diverse topics (to satisfy my curiosity)
Engage in active discussions with like- and non-like-minded individuals.

In the coming days and weeks, please check back often for posts and discussions on ghosts/spirits, psychic phenomena, remote viewing, etc. Also, feel free to suggest additional topics and bring along an open mind. Above all else, enjoy!