(This is an unauthorized copy of an article from "Omni" magazine.)
FIRST WORD
SELLING THE MIND SHORT:
Exposing the myth of psychic privelege
By Keith Harary
Disseminating propaganda requires subverting rational thinking
with seemingly plausible lies. I was a teenager when I first
believed the lie that there was something about me or anybody else
that could properly be labeled "psychic." A part of me felt sick when
the label was used on me-the way I felt when I smoked my first
cigarette. There was something compelling and forbidden about the
experience, and something I also knew could eventually do me in down
the line.
At the time, I was ripe for the slaughter-I was naive,
searching for something meaningful to do with my life. More than
that, I was about to become a propaganda magnet. The authority
figures who sold me the bill of goods were parapsychologists at one of
the field's major laboratories, who used the label "psychic" to
explain my performance in a parapsychology experiment. I did not yet
know enough about the politics of parapsychology to realize that those
who present themselves as authorities often are entrapped within their
own mythologies and that scientific competence is not the only coin of
the realm in the field.
Propaganda is infectious. Reviewing nearly 25 years of
experience in psychological research and the findings of more than
100 years of parapsychology experiments, I cannot point to any
evidence indicating that humanity can objectively be divided between
psychics and nonpsychics. Having once believed the lie about myself,
I finally have overcome it. But I continue to find myself cast in the
role of a psychic character in other people's mythologies. I find
myself described as a psychic in many recent parapsychology books,
even by authors who describe me as such over my own objections. One
such author privately encouraged me to promote myself as a psychic,
saying that by rejecting the concept, I was missing a chance to make
some serious money. I also find myself credited in print with beliefs
and accomplishments that hae no basis in fact. Propaganda has a mind
of its own.
The public's fascination with reputed psychics triggers
reactions of wonder or incredulity whenever the term is invoked.
Whether you believe in the existence of these supposedly extraordinary
people or believe those who claim to be psychic are deluded or
fraudulent is irrelevant. In either case, you are excluding a variety
of inner experiences from your concept of normal humanity. That
denial diminishes your sense of your own potential. It fuels the
sales of cult memberships, tabloid newspapers, deceptive 900-line
services, and questionable tests of psychic powers to the public.
The popular concept that there are mental processes called
psychic abilities, which are not directly related to other cognitive
processes and that transcend the laws governing our relationship
with space and time, is logically vacuous. We do not know enough
about the underlying structure of reality to conclude that the
laws of nature are ever violated. It is far more likely that we do
not fully understand those laws. Nor have we sufficiently explored
the innermost bounds of perception, communication, and intelligence.
We cannot conclude that something impossible is happening simply
because we do not comprehend all the subtle and complicated ways
in which the mind processes information.
That the mind is capable of remarkable feats is undeniable.
Exploring the implications of this realization does not require
resorting to extremes. It should encourage us to create a middle
ground-one that defines human potential in human terms. If a higher
perceptual, communicative, and thinking capability exists within us,
then it cannot be destined to remain anomalous or denied by rational
people or consigned to the realm of the psychic and paranormal. It
must be understood within the context of normal experience and
achievable human potential and considered within the emerging
framework of mainstream science. Rather than approaching this
exploration as a conflict between an occult versus a materialistic
ideology, we may then embrace a balanced vision of human potential
and investigate the mysteries of nature with an open mind.
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