PERCEPTIONS AND PERSPECTIVES




A Study in Thought

sa025



by





Marius Heuff

Chapter 1

Content

A review of basic mechanisms in the perception of reality.
The essence of a scientific reality perception.
The fact and its validity.
The communal aspects of the validity of an idea, concept or fact.
Cultural influences upon scientific reality perceptions.
The problems of specialisation.
Three factors of scientific persuasiveness; verifiability, the absence of contradictions, and usefulness in mastery and predictability.
Slight variations in perception, even between similar members of a small grouping.
Stream-lining a concept or an idea into a single word.
The slow permeation of new ideas.
The persuasiveness of an increased predictability of events.
Self-evident awarenesses.
The statistical analysis.
The tides at a sea-shore.
Scientific efforts to prove correlations with the help of a statistical analysis
Complexity and randomness.
The occurrence of a "bias".
A handful of sand, dropped on the floor.
Random distribution or scatter.
Chance; a deck of cards.

Before we can discuss the concepts behind reality-perceptions with any degree of clarity and finality, (including those of "extra-sensory perception"), it is necessary to review the basic ideas we have developed about the way we perceive reality. Let us analyse, why, and how, we construct, or build-up, a set of images we call "reality", and, which we believe to be "the truth". We will start this discussion with an attempt to define, as precisely as possible, the essence, persuasiveness and merits of the scientific methods of observation, because the delineation of a scientific fact, as well as the interpretation of this fact, are the foundation of every scientific reality perception.

In the scientific method of acquiring a reliable image of reality, we correlate a series of "facts", or observations, which have been accepted as valid by a previous process of careful analysis and scrutiny. Eventually, a mental framework of coherent images emerges, which has to prove itself by being useful, attractive, and capable of withstanding intense scrutiny, before more and more people acknowledge, that, indeed, this mental image is "a reality, a truth, or, a fact".

The simplest form of a scientific observation is a description that is precise and detailed. However, every description describes the object under observation within a framework of previously accepted facts or concepts. Such a definition shows, that all scientific descriptions, even of the most elementary observations, depend on the conceptual vocabulary of the observer and his audience. If there is a strong tendency towards making observations in a small, specialised field of knowledge and expertise, this conceptual vocabulary may evolve into a world on its own, which is difficult to penetrate by an idividual who has had little or no previous contacts with this specialised area, even, if he has been a life-long member of the same social environment.

Ideally, the persuasiveness of a scientific observation is based upon three, more or less independent factors. First, the description has to be open to scrutiny and verification by anyone who is inclined to do so, and the acceptance of a fact, or statement, on the basis of authority is, thereby, minimised. Every human being should be able to observe roughly the same features as have been described, because we all function essentially in the same manner, but, we notice, that, in every description, even the most simple and direct observation, different observers may have a slightly different way of looking at a specific object of interest.

Therefore, an observation, or, the description of an observation, varies somewhat from one person to the next. Within a closely-knit community such a description becomes, usually, stream-lined, reflecting a "consensus" of the socially integrated grouping, especially, if the observation or description is important and frequently used. The observation becomes shaped by the practical role and function such an observation is going to play within the community. In other words; the stream-lining often progresses to the point, that it forges a single name or a single concept which is shared by most people in the community and becomes a part of the cultural currency they use in their daily lives.

Secondly, the observation should not be subject to severe contradictions by other concepts or ideas, because this would pose a strain on the validity of the observation in question. If an observation is directly contradicted by another observation with equal or superior validity, such an observation or description will have to be rejected or modified, until the discrepancies are resolved. Often, it is impossible to resolve completely the contradictions between observations that have gained more or less equal credibility, and, in such a case, the perception of reality will remain somewhat vague, strained, unclear, confusing and imprecise.

Thirdly, the observation and its description should make a contribution to the overall grasp or understanding of a phenomenon, and, it should increase the predictability of a natural or artificially created sequence of events. After all, a "new" observation or fact, a new concept, idea or way of looking at an aspect of reality, has to offer something, because people are asked to learn a new way of perceiving reality. This costs energy, because it requires an effort to learn something new, and, it is, therefore, logical, that people want to see a substantial benefit, before they consent to accept or learn a new concept or idea.

The feature of verifiability, the absence of severely contradicting ideas or observations, as well as the extent to which the new idea contributes to a more comprehensive, larger framework of understanding and predictability, these are the three major factors that determine the persuasiveness and usefulness of a scientific argument or observation.

It is a rare occurrence that all three factors are present in such a clear-cut and overwhelming abundance, that the observation is accepted quickly as an unquestionable "truth". Usually, an observation has to gain acceptance slowly, as the observations are repeated and the truthfulness of these observations and conclusions has been substantiated by many different people. The thought-patterns and reality perceptions of people, including scientific workers, resist, strongly, a new way of looking at reality, because it is painful and confusing to give-up the comfortable and familiar reality perceptions that are already in use.

The inner logic and coherence of a new idea or observation is only slowly strengthened, as more and more people are willing to give it serious consideration and scrutiny. Slowly, the ideas may find a place in the conceptual or cultural pool of a community, and they may, then, become more widespread. Of course, the opposite sequence of events is even more common, where generally accepted notions and beliefs are slowly losing their significance or relevance, and, they may even be rejected by a thoroughly scrutinising scientific community. Then, these ideas are replaced by concepts that have been verified and substantiated by thought and experiment.

One of the strongest and most persuasive arguments for the validity of a particular observation occurs, when the predictability of an event has been enhanced by accepting the validity of an observation, but, of course, there is no guarantee, that, the "explanation" given to the course of events and leading to an increased predictability, is correct or represents, in any way, an absolute truth.

Some observations are so self-evident and are so strongly engraved in our awarenesses, that they are completely taken for granted, and then, these observations do not require an "explanation". The events that take place when I release an object from the grasp of my fingers and the subsequent fall of this object to the ground, are so self-evident, so without any exception, so generally experienced, and they constitute such an absolute truth, that the reality of these events and their sequence is automatically accepted as "a fact", without giving much consideration to the question why this is so. On the other extreme of the scale of correlations, we see the cumbersome statistical "proof" that is sometimes necessary to show that a correlation indeed exists, and, all scientific workers know about the laborious techniques that are used to determine, with statistical analyses and mathematical manipulations, whether or not a particular observation is correlated with another.

If we have noticed, as an observer in the pre-scientific era, that the range of the tides at the sea-shore increases as the moon approaches a fully lighted face, or is absent from the night-sky all-together, we may come to the conclusion, that the changing aspects of the moon are correlated, in some way, with the range of the tides, but we have no idea why this is so, until we introduce a mental imagery of mutual gravitational attraction between the moon and the earth. This lets us see, how the gravitational pull of the moon and the sun co-incides, at times, creating large tidal fluctuations, while, at other times, the pull of the moon and the sun are not in line with each other, and do not give rise to a summation of their effects upon the level of the tide; as a result, the range of the tide is less.

Many scientific investigations are, in essence, a search for a logical or a statistical correlation between observations or events. The imagination of the researcher has come to the conclusion, that a particular refinement of the reality picture within his specialised area could be "proven", if a particular fact could be demonstrated by a study or experiment, but, the detailed pattern of all the forces and events involved in such a study or experiment, are, often, so complex and so completely beyond our capability of measurement and analysis, that we simplify the picture of reality. We do this by introducing the concept of a random or chance-distribution of events, and, we try, then, to detect a particular "bias" within this sea of random events.

For example, if I drop a handful of sand onto a smooth floor, I see that the grains of sand will scatter. Most of them will remain fairly close to the spot they fell on, while an occasional grain of sand will scatter quite far away. We can divide the area of the floor into evenly spaced concentric rings, and, we see a gradual, but quite characteristic drop in the number of sand grains that have traveled to the outer rings. This is the principle of scatter, or, a chance-distribution. We could, of course, visualise the causes and effects for the pathway of each individual grain of sand, if it would be possible to calculate or measure all the collisions between these grains of sand, after they hit the floor.

If we try to visualise these events in detail, we note, that most of these grains of sand are subjected to a large number of collisions. This results, eventually, in a cancellation of most of the collision-energy by their travel, to and fro, back and forth, and from left to right, until they have spent their impact-energy and come to rest. A few will experience a train of collisions that leave them with a net-energy in one direction or another, and they will scatter widely. Because of the enormous complexity and the unavailability of all the data to calculate and predict the path of each individual grain of sand, we apply a summarising concept. This is the concept of "random distribution", or, a statistical distribution of random events around an average value.

If the floor is slightly tilted in one direction or another, or, if the surface is not equally smooth on all sides, or, if there is an obstacle somewhere, the random distribution of the grains of sand will reflect this asymmetry of the force-fields they have been subjected to during their fall. The scattering after impact will, then, be asymmetrical and will reflect the existence of a "bias".

I can carry-out a similar experiment with a deck of cards. I have a full deck of fifty-two playing cards in front of me, face-down, and I assume, of course, that I have no way, not even subconsciously, of recognising a card by its appearance from the back. If the cards are truly shuffled well, their distribution in relation to each other should be completely random, meaning, that no card has any particular predilection for a certain place in the deck, nor, is there a predilection for any particular combination of cards.

If I would take always a certain card from this shuffled deck, e.g., the third card from the top, I would find in a large number of trials, that all the cards would have an equal chance of having been placed in this particular spot. If I find that this is not the case, the assumed randomness of distribution was not there, and, some kind of a bias or factor was operative to make a particular card, or a few cards, appear in this particular spot more often than others.

Let us assume, that total randomness has indeed been introduced, and has been proven with such a large series of experiments. If I choose a card blindly and try to guess the suit, I will have a chance of one in four to be right, one in thirteen of guessing the numerical value, and one in fifty-two to guess the complete identity of the card. I can plot the correlation between a right guess and chance, and, over a large number of experiments, the chance to guess right should even-out in the ratios mentioned above. If the incidence of an accurate guess is far higher than statistical evaluation would predict, we have to look for a reasons, why such a correlation or bias exists.

.......

Chapter 2

Content

The phenomenon of telepathy.
The difficult problem of "normal" communications.
The synchronisation of thoughts and feelings by minute cues and sub-liminal perceptions.
The techniques and the art of the "illusionist" or magician.
The inability to be aware of all forms of communication.
The subconscious modulation of a timing-sequence.
Rigorous conditions for a telepathic experiment.
The "transmission of images".
The problem of signalling the beginning and end of a "telepathic" transmission.
Investigating the existence of a possible "telepathic carrier wave", in contrast to investigating a series of possible modulations of this carrier-wave.
How a telepathic experiment should be carried-out.

The phenomena of extra-sensory perception include, amongst others, the concepts of telepathy, where it seems possible for certain people to transfer thoughts from one person to another without any known means of communication. The crux of the concept lies, indeed, in the qualification "unknown means of communication", because we have learned, that communications between people are not limited to verbalised or signalled contacts. People, who know each other well, are able to fathom the thought-contents of each other by perceiving, often subconsciously, minute cues and clues in attitude, posture, movements, expressions, inflections of speech, etc. Sometimes, this ability is deliberately exploited as a means to entertain people in the art and technique of an "illusionist", but, serious people, who genuinely believe in the possibility of transferring thoughts telepathically, often do not realise to what extent such minimal or subliminal communications can take place.

Subliminal perceptions, or minute cues are, by definition, received below the level of conscious awareness, and, these mechanisms are responsible for the congruence of feelings and thoughts, which such people often experience. Because we are, now, more familiar with the numerous "hidden" ways communications can take place, subconsciously or deliberately, the research into the possibility of telepathic phenomena has to exclude, rigorously, any form of contact, including the ability to modulate, again subconsciously or deliberately, a timing sequence. We will elaborate this idea a little more.

Researchers, who are carrying-out telepathic experiments under rigorous laboratory conditions, recognise, by and large, the complexity of the problems associated with these subliminal contacts or perceptions, and every honest and rigorous experimental situation will include conditions, where the individual, who is the "thought sender", remains completely isolated from the "thought receiver"; the individual who tries to guess, or "feel", the thoughts, or mental imagery, which the sender or transmitter of these images is concentrating upon. Characteristically, a series of cards is used with, e.g., four different configurations. These cards are shuffled by an outsider who is the experimenter or telepathic researcher. The "sender" will concentrate on each of these cards in succession, and the receiver will try to guess or "feel" the type of picture the sender is looking at.

Even, if we accept a complete honesty on the part of all participants, as well as a rigorous exclusion of all visual or auditory contacts, we see some important questions arise, as we analyse the situation carefully. It is important to note, that the beginning of such an experiment must be common knowledge to both participants, the sender as well as the receiver, and, I assume, that, in all cases a signal is transmitted from the sending room to the receiving room by the controlers of the experiment in order to indicate, when a new card is taken, and, when the sender focusses his attention upon this new card.

We have to ask the following question. Is the time allotted to each card rigorously controled by the experimenters, or do the experimenters signal from one room to the other, when the sender is ready to concentrate on a different card? If the timing of the "card turn-over" is determined by the sender, very minute variations in the timing may be sensed, subconsciously, by the receiver as an indication what kind of a card has been looked at by the sender. In the absence of a conscious or deliberate communication, (which would be a form of fraud), a subconscious modulation of the timing-sequence may well be sufficient to explain a seemingly inexplicable correlation between sender and receiver.

Therefore, any valid telepathic experiment would have to ensure, that the timing of the card turn-over is rigidly controled by a mechanical device, which is completely uninfluenced by the sender, the receiver, or the researcher of such a telepathic experiment.

Actually, before we even try to find out, whether or not it is possible to transmit mental images beyond known means of communication, a more basic experiment should be carried-out. The sender and the receiver, sitting apart and completely isolated from each other, should experiment with the timing, or beginning, of an effort to concentrate or to convey a particular object or thought by telepathic transmission. Of course, the timing should be determined by the researchers or controlers, and not by the telepathic subjects themselves, since an intimiate knowledge of each other's habits will lead to a high degree of temporal co-incidence. We will not discuss the numerous possibilities for fraud that exist, whenever the timing of a telepathic experiment is left to the discretion of the telepathic subjects.

The experiment should be carried-out in the following manner. The experimenters of a "concentration test" would signal the beginning of the test to the sender, completely unknown to the sender or receiver, when such a begining could be expected. Let us then see, whether or not the receiver can sense with any degree of accuracy the beginning and the duration of such an effort to concentrate on a telepathic transmission. We are not testing, then, whether or not a certain image can be transferred, but, whether or not the beginning and duration of an effort to send a telepathic message can be sensed at all.

In a way, we transfer our attention from the "modulation" of a mental communication between telepathic subjects to the "carrier-wave" itself, and, we try to determine, whether or not such a "carrier-wave" or bond of communication exists, regardless of any specific content, which may or may not have been transferred by means that are "unknown" to us. If such a form of extra-sensory sensitivity to communicate exist, the receiving party should be able to "sense" the beginning of a concentration-period by the sender, within seconds, and, he or she should also be able to sense the cessation of this effort to concentrate, within seconds, thereby closely following a temporal pattern of concentration-activity that is chosen by the experimenters and transmitted by the sending party to the receiving party.

Let us see such an experiment, which can be duplicated, time and again, and, which is open to complete scrutiny. We may, then, finally, approach an experimental set-up, where we can agree amongst ourselves, whether or not the phenomenon of telepathic transmission exists. However, we should not forget, that we may not be aware, as yet, of all the possible forms of communication that can take place physiologically, or "normally", between sensitive people, and, we should, therefore, continue to interpret any possible evidence for the existence of "extra-sensory" perception with a measure of skepticism, because we realise, that we do not really know, whether or not we have fathomed all the natural or intra-sensory mechanisms of communications which may take place between human beings or other living organisms.

.......

Chapter 3

Content

A lack of stringent controls.
The para-psychologist as a believer.
Intuitive reasons for adopting a belief.
The wide world of perceptions; philosophically as well as physiologically.
The influence on scientific thinking by a particular school of training.
The tendency to see scientific images as reflections from an absolute reality.
Existential considerations.
The honest para-psychologist.
Enthousiasm, and other motivations, as a reason for carrying-out para-psychological research.
The baffling tales of human experiences.
The inevitability of interpreting reality in the light of our beliefs.
The influence of religious reality perceptions.
Primary awarenesses and sensations, and the logic of a belief in an anthropomorphic force-field.
The link between para-psychological interests, and religious feelings and notions.
Naturally ocurring instances of telepathic thought-transfer, and the premonition or fore-knowledge of events.
Difficulties evaluating such testimonies.
The subconscious, broadly meandering stream of awarenesses.
The subconscious activation of a specific memory-trace or thought-pattern.
The factor of co-incidence, and the difficulty of evaluating the likelyhood of a co-incidence.
Emotional difficulties when accepting a fact that upsets, fundamentally, a perception of reality.
The superficial enthousiasm of the believing researcher, and, the narrow dogmatism of his obsessive critics.

It would not surprise me, if such stringent criteria as we outlined at the end of the previous chapter, are still lacking from most telepathic experiments, and, as a result, we are left with a large volume of data, from numerous experiments by many researchers all over the world, which show many and varying degrees of tightness and rigidity in experimental control. Most experimenters in para-psychological phenomena are "believers" in the possibilities of extra-sensory perception, and, they spend a life-time pursuing this intuitive hunch, trying to convince their colleagues of the validity of their experimental set-up and findings.

It is reasonable to expect people, who are attracted to, and fascinated by, the possibilities of extra-sensory perception, to have an open mind about these phenomena, but, unfortunately, most people rely heavily upon feelings and intuition in forming their beliefs about these matters, and, at the same time, these researchers are, often, not fully aware of the physiological, scientific and philosophical considerations that play a role in this large and confusing world of human perceptions.

Most scientists follow, rather rigidly and slovenly, the school of thought in which they have been trained, and, they apply the techniques they have learned, as well as the tools they have become familiar with, to whatever problem has to be solved. Scientists still have a tendency to assume, at least, tacitly, that the scientific reality is "the reality" as it really exists, irrespective of human existence, but, it is becoming increasingly apparent, that we have to reflect, clearly and thoughtfully, upon the reality functions and perceptions that are given as evolutionary developed faculties of knowledge and insight to the members of the human species.

Many scientists still seem to accept scientific evidence, and, especially, scientific conclusions and images as an absolute truth, and, the laborious construction of a scientific image is for them the same, as slowly outlining and clarifying an absolutely valid reality. The reasons for such an attitude are logical, because most scientists have to work very hard to achieve their goals, to remain secure in their competitive positions, and, to be recognised as good workers by their colleagues. All these activities make it difficult for the scientist to reflect and think, to ponder what he is doing, and, to develop a philosophical approach to his work, re-evaluating, from time to time, his beliefs, attitudes and activities.

The honest para-psychologist shows, by and large, the same attitudes, as well as the same rigorously scientific discipline and methodology he learned in his particular school of training. He applies strict and high standards of integrity and ingenuity in his search to find a proof for phenomena that have eluded comprehension, so far. He is fascinated by the challenge to find scientific evidence and tangible proof for these phenomena, and, his enthousiasm is fueled by the feeling, that, here, there is a real chance to make a scientific break-through, if only, he would be lucky enough to find the kind of experimental evidence that would convince his sceptical colleagues, as well as the rest of the world.

There are other motivations as well, in particular, when a mechanistic view of man's nature and origins seems to be losing its persuasiveness. There is this intuitive hope and belief, that there is more to the existence of the human being than a scientific, biological or neurological and psychological view of life can bring to the fore, and, these feelings and hopes spur many people along a life-long search for meaning, guiding their interests and activities in this fascinating field of para-psychology.

The interests of many people who are working in the field of para-psychology, are also stimulated by the awareness, that, throughout the history of mankind, there have been reports about experiences and awarenesses that are completely baffling and unexplicable to the rational, scientific mind, provided, of course, that these testimonies can be considered to be valid and are accepted as completely truthful. We have learned, recently, to distinguish between fraud, (a deliberate deception in the reporting of experiences and awarenesses), and, the occurrence of fantasies, hallucinations, dreams and other reality distortions and subjective interpretations, which take place because of a particular emotional state, such as hopeful expectations or a strong belief structure, predisposing an individual to see and experience awarenesses in a particular light. Yet, all these factors make it understandable, why these awarenesses may not be shared by others.

As a matter of fact, we have learned to see, that we all interpret sensations and awarenesses according to our beliefs and reality perceptions. We all function with a great deal of subjectivity and preconceived ideas, in spite of the fact, that many of us have recognised the beauty and usefulness of interpreting phenomena in an objective and scientific light.

We have discussed, on several occasions, the logic and far-reaching influence of religious beliefs, and, we have shown, that a strictly scientific reality perception, which excludes any interpretation based on preconceived notions, is more an idle hope than a physiological reality. Even the most fundamental scientific conclusions of our present era, (representing an interpretation of the forces of nature without accepting the presence or influence of an arbitrary and anthropomorphic force), is far from commonly accepted amongst most people, scientists included.

For most people, the rigid, scientific mental images of nature, life and the Universe, represent an unbelievable and irreal imagery that contradicts their many sensations, awarenesses and emotions. Our primary awarenesses seem to make it plausible, that there is a superior, "willed" force in the Universe, and, that this force often guides or tempts us. At least, we experience the fact, that this Force, or the forces of good and evil, seem to be involved with the fate of the human being.

The para-psychologist is usually careful not to call any form of extra-sensory perception "super-natural", and, he avoids to give a religious connotation to these phenomena, largely, because of his scientific schooling and objectives, but, many researchers come, emotionally or intuitively, to the conclusion, that the rigid, mechanistic reality-images which the other scientific disciplines seem to give us, are unsatisfactory as an explanation of human essence.

If we look for a moment at the naturally occurring instances, where there seems to have been a telepathic transfer of thoughts, or, where there seems to have been a fore-knowledge of a certain, usually dramatic event, we see, that it is always nearly impossible to establish, precisely, what happened, and, what had been predicted or fore-seen. We hear the testimony of many people who felt "something"; who were suddenly alarmed, or, who were able to see or predict an event about which they had, seemingly, no knowledge, but, we are always dealing with a sea of possibilities.

Nearly always, are we hearing a story of premonition "afterwards", after the supposedly foreseen events have indeed taken place. In addition, we are dealing with many possibilities for subliminal perceptions and intuitive notions, which may have set the stage for a certain awareness. We are also faced with the probability that a broad stream of subconscious thoughts and awarenesses had been selectively activated by a particular event. It is likely, that a sensitive individual with a broad, meandering stream of subconscious awarenesses, will have the feeling, that he or she had a premonition, or, was able to sense what was happening at a distance, if such a happening had been part of this broad, subconscious stream of awarenesses, and, if this awareness was selectively called into a focus of attention, after a certain reality experience had taken place.

We hear people say, many times, that they "knew" before-hand, that a certain person was going to visit them, or phone, ring the door-bell, etc., but, rarely, do we have any proof, that such a "knowledge" was uttered or recorded, before it actuallly happened. Yet, even so, there are many instances, where people have given remarkable testimonies, corroborated by witnesses, whereby such a person would say; "so and so is coming", or, that is "so and so", before having seen this person and without any obvious reason, why such a person would be expected to come or visit. In all these cases, it is impossible to exclude a variety of subliminal perceptions, which may have led the person in question to utter his belief that a particular individual was coming. Similarly, the factor of co-incidence is very difficult to calculate, because the numerous instances, where such a person had a specific feeling which failed to materialise, have been forgotten, while the one occasion where the "hunch" was right, made a deep impression on the person, his neighbours and everyone around.

If people strongly believe in the possibility of extra-sensory perceptions, the incidence of these experiences will even be higher, because events and experiences tend to be interpreted in the light of a belief structure. By far the majority of people in the world believe, intuitively or explicitly, in the existence of a superior, anthropomorphic Power of one kind or another, and, therefore, the mediation of thoughts, information, feelings or awarenesses via a route which does not belong, clearly, in the recognised "normal" ways of everyday existence, tends to blend, imperceptibly, with religious or para-religious belief structures and experiences.

Let us assume, that I have been shown an experiment as I described above, and, let us assume, that I can not find any fault with the experimental set-up. I am shown a set of results that shows, undeniably, a correlation which can not be explained by "ordinary" means. If I believe the results and the honesty of the test, the people and the interpretations, I will be forced to ask the question; how is this possible?

We have discussed the fact, that proof of a correlation by statistical methods, is not very persuasive, in particular, if one is forced to accept an observation, or fact, that does not seem to fit into the overall structure of commonly accepted reality perceptions. If the acceptance of such an observation as a fact would distrub the validity of the rest of my reality perceptions, I will have a strong tendency to be irritated by this "fact", which is forced upon me, because I can not deny its existence. Therefore, I will have the tendency to question the accuracy or honesty of the results I have been shown, or, I will come to the conclusion, that there must have been some kind of contact, or, I will look with suspicion at the statistical manipulations that "prove" the scientific validity of the correlation.

This emotional reaction or attitude will be felt by honest researchers as an unjustified suspicion; an unwillingness to face the facts, and tensions build-up between reality perceptions that are, in essence, incompatible with each other. A reconciliation is difficult, because the consequences of accepting the evidence of para-psychological phenomena are so difficult to bring into harmony with a rigid, scientific imagery of measurable predictabilities.

Another reason, why many of us have a difficult time accepting evidence that seems to suggest the existence of para-normal or para-psychological phenomena, is the feeling that the many fields of "ordinary" scientific investigations and interpretation about the nature of life, existence and human functions, are still so vague, so imprecise and so tentative. If we have difficulties knowing what is normal and how perceptions occur physiologically and psychologically, we find it premature to delineate or demonstrate the existence of "para-normal" phenomena. We are distressed at the philosophically simplistic and scientifically superficial conceptual imagery of many para-psychological researchers, who seem so eager to prove their intuitive hunches, but, we feel the same distress, when we observe some of their narrow-minded and obsessive critics.

.......

Chapter 4

Content

It is difficult to know, how we know and believe.
Common characteristics of extra-sensory phenomena.
Relative values; the varying levels of persuasion that are required to believe a result.
Credibility and authority; their roles in beliefs.
The stalemate between believers and sceptics.
Para-psychological phenomena as an integral part of a broadly based, relativistic reality perception.
The likely lack of success of any attempt to please believers and non-believers alike.
A review of the functions of the human mind.
Conscious and subconscious awarenesses.
The reality of existing mental images, regardless, whether or not these images represent "a reality".
The "will" as an instrument for bundling the efforts of coherent thinking.
Day-dreaming and reminiscing.
Being alert and sensitive to the perception of a contemporary reality.
A continuous referral to past experiences as a pre-requisite to recognise incoming sense impressions.
The inter-play between projected actions and imagined results.
The aimless wanderings of an idle mind.

We stilll have no clear idea, how people communicate, and, we do not know, to what extent subliminal perceptions play a role. We still have no clear concept about the wandering streams of awarenesses percolating through our conscious and subconscious mind. In short, we still have no clear image amongst ourselves, how we function "normally", and, how can we, then, define or investigate phenomena that are "beyond" this normal range? How can we design experiments that exclude all normal forms of communication, if we hardly know, what factors play a role in such normal communication processes? How can we be sure to have eliminated all these normal factors, if we have only a dim perception of their existence and mode of operation?

A common characteristic of all forms of extra-sensory perception is the belief, that such a "gifted" individual is able to perceive something that is happening away from him, either in place or in time, without being aware of receiving such an awareness through any of the commonly known sensory pathways. The apparent correlations between his predictions and subsequent events, or, the ability to describe an event or situation which the telepathic individual is not in direct contact with, is the "proof" for the audience, or the experimenters, that such a person has, indeed, capabilities of perception that lie outside the known and normal physiological range. We have discussed the fact, that the acceptance of such evidence is based upon a convincing "proof", but, obviously, someone inclined to believe that such capabilities exist, is far easier convinced compared to someone who is reluctant, or, even, averse to the idea that such para-normal phenomena are possible, or could actually exist.

The judgement, whether or not the evidence presented is convincing, and, in particular, what the evidence means for the overall reality perception of an individual, depends, very much, on intuitive factors, such as pre-existing belief structures, or, the level of credibility or authority the author or witness has when relating the facts of para-normal phenomena.

Careful scientific control of the situation under which these phenomena take place, as well as a careful statistical evaluation of the evidence, has led to many contradictory interpretations, where those, who believe in the possibilities of extra-sensory perception are convinced of the justification of their beliefs, while those, who have difficulties, emotionally and intellectually, to accept the evidence, will often show a surprisingly hostile reaction against the persuasiveness of the presented evidence. At the present time, there seems to be some sort of a stalemate, where the scientific evidence fails to be accepted by a large majority of scientifically thinking people as "hard evidence", while the tenacity of the phenomena that are reported make it irrealistic to keep labeling all such testimony, simplistically, as untrue, a hoax or a fraud, etc.

It seems far more likely, that we will, eventually, be able to incorporate the appearance of these so-called para-psychological phenomena in an overall, broad and relativistic concept of reality, where we see, and acknowledge, the close correlation between reality and belief. Then, we will learn, slowly, to abandon the inclination to cling to a feeling of absolute reality, be it scientific or religious. Would it be too soon to attempt such a synthesis now? While there is nothing lost in trying to incorporate the apparently para-normal phenomena of extra-sensory perception and psycho-kinesis into a unified and relativistic reality-concept of man's nature, including the mechanisms of his belief structures, it would be wise to keep in mind, that the results of such an attempt may not be persuasive to either side of the argument; at least, not at the present time.

Let us, first, review our concepts about the functions of the human mind, especially, this whole constellation of factors and mechanisms which plays a prominent role in determining the content and sequence of our awarenesses, thoughts and feelings. An awareness refers to a perception of something we believe to be true, and, usually, the perception is part of a comprehensive reality picture we make use of at a particular moment of our existence. This reality perception provides a logical and coherent place for everything that exists in our sphere of awarenesses. However, we may also be aware of feelings, moods, thoughts, whishes, reminiscences or worries about problems and objectives, which form a part of this very personal reality perception we have of "our particular world".

We may be aware of the fact, that the content of our awarenesses is biased or, even, completely untrue or unfounded, but the presence of such feelings, hopes, fears or the presence of a specific mood, is, nevertheless, a reality; at least, for us, as the creator of such subjective images, moods or feelings. I may experience a measure of anxiety or a feeling of depression, and, I may be aware, at least, to some extent, of the fact that the content or reasons for my fear or depression are not justified, but, the presence of this feeling is a reality for me.

We may experience a stream of mental images passing through our mind, and, we may know, that, many, if not most of these images can not be considered to reflect a true reality perception, but, the occurrence of such a stream of mental images is a matter of fact. The existence of each individual image is a reality, be it with markedly varying degrees of precision. They are true, as images that exist in our mind, but, we know, most of the time, that they are not accurate enough to function as a guide for our behavioural responses.

Thoughts may be classified as a more or less coherent sequence of images, feelings and awarenesses that are linked, in varying degrees, to each other. They may reflect an active attempt at a precise evaluation of the situation "as it is", but, thoughts are, often, intermingled with a more loosely connected stream of memories from past experiences, or a play of projections about possible future occurrences, behavioural choices and goal-patterns. Thoughts, can, therefore, be actively organised around an urgent problem, where we search for answers or clarifications by reviewing a large number of cause and effect relationships in the imagery of our mind. Under these conditions, the logical coherence of such a sequence of images is tightly controled by our will. Thoughts may also dwell more loosely upon goals for the future, and, they become, often, a form of day-dreaming, if the pleasurable accent is emphasised, or, past events have been nostalgically recalled for the purpose of evoking a specific mood.

When we are strongly aware of the present conditions and concentrate upon the evaluation of incoming sense impressions, we are highly alert and sensitive to our surroundings, but, even in the emphasis on contemporary reality, we make continuously use of our past experiences and future expectations. If we are strongly engaged in solving a problem, we project, continuously, a series of actions in our mind, and, we try to judge the consequences and results of these actions. The feed-back information of these judgements about the possible consequences of our actions, forms, then, the basis for a new trial of imaginary actions, and, this process repeats itself, continuously, as an interplay between projected actions and imagined results.

During the flow of tightly controled awarenesses, we employ our will to a large extent, because we control the sequence of our thoughts along lines we consider to be closest to our ideas and ideals about a reliable reality perception. Our will is instrumental in directing and bundling the stream of our awarenesses within the channels of logical coherence, and, we experience the need to exert, continuously, an effort in order to prevent our thoughts and our awareness-stream from wandering and meandering erratically.

When we relax our voluntary efforts to control and guide the content and sequence of our mental imagery, it becomes very difficult to observe, precisely and alertly, the nature of such a wandering and meandering stream of awarenesses, since we try to "sneak-in" a sort of "willed attention" in the form of an observation, while we try, at the same time, to let our mind idle aimlessly.

Observations about subconscious mechanisms are, therefore, sketchy, highly introspective and difficult to achieve, but we will attempt to describe the general idea, or the overall impressions, gained from such glimpses and transient observations. We may gain some insight about the validity of such impressions, if we let a perceptive and alert audience decide, whether or not they find a measure of recognition in such a description, as they compare my subjective observations with their own fleeting experiences.

.......

Chapter 5

Content

The surfacing of mental images into a focus of awareness.
Free associations.
The influence of classification systems upon the linkage between mental images.
The influence of a mood or emotional bias.
Multiple streams of mental images, vying for a moment of attention.
The image-stream we are aware of, is, probably, only a fraction of the total extent of this stream.
The concentration of our will, and the influence of an attempt to think logically.
Control over the image-stream.
A glimpse of our sub-conscious imagery.
The reality perceptions of emotional and sensitive people.
Their quick-witted response to changing circumstances.
The dull world of strictly scientific images.
The scientific reality perception, seen as a specific form or type of perception within a large spectrum of awarenesses.
Incoherent reality perceptions by many scientifically schooled people.
A review of normal mechanisms, before we can discuss abnormal or para-normal phenomena.

Once a mental image has entered, for one reason or another, the stage of conscious awareness, it may evoke the surfacing of a related image. This is a process that has been well accepted in the concept of an "association". It remains difficult to decide, whether or not a sequence of awarenesses, which seems to originate in such a process of "free associations", is, indeed, an automatic process, not controled by our will. Perhaps, there is an element of subconscious guidance by our logical or classifying conceptual framework. Probably, the very fact, that an image may cause the surfacing of an image that is related to a previous one, means, that our mental classification systems determine, to a large extent, which type or category of images will be recalled into a focus of awareness.

While we associate freely within the conceptual boundaries of our classification systems, there may, indeed, be some sort of an automatic guidance-function, where the structure of our mental classification systems determines the relationships between the images that well-up into our consciousness. We do not guide the image-sequence with a deliberate act or concentration of our will, but, in addition to the guidance-patterns of classification systems, the image-sequence is readily influenced by our mood, the bias of an anxiety or a euphoria, and, frequently, by the sensory input from our environment or our physical circumstances. All these factors may initiate a whole new series of mental image-recalls. It seems, that there are, often, several simultaneous streams of different categories of mental images, which are intermingling and coalescing with great rapidity. These streams are, often, vague and barely perceptible, and the images compete for a moment of existence in the center of our conscious awareness.

New streams of image-sequences are constantly born, while others dry-up, and, sometimes, a large variety of mental images are trying to surface, momentarily, at the same time. It seems, therefore, logical to assume, that the stream of mental images we are aware of and can verbalise or recall, is only a minute fraction of the large, broad, seemingly chaotic stream of mental images that are close to conscious awareness, but, which surface insufficiently to become a truly conscious awareness experience.

Our attitude towards this broad stream of images differs markedly from moment to moment, and, from one individual to the next. If we are engaged in a conscious effort to grasp reality, we concentrate our will and we control, to a large extent, the mental imagery that flows through the focus of our attention. The rest of this broad, meandering stream becomes then suppressed and does not influence our actions or behaviour to any significant extent; at least, not at that particular moment. Our ability to control this stream with logic and an emotionally neutral sequence of clear observations and conclusions, varies markedly from one person to the next, and, only a few of us become highly skilled in the art of thinking and behaving strictly logically.

Most of us master a measure of control over our mental imagery, but, we all let, from time to time, our minds wander without much control, and, it is only, then, that we may get a glimpse of our subconscious mental imagery. Some people are "highly emotional" and have little control over the stream of their awarenesses. They go through life mostly "feeling" for reality, and, they are sensitive to all sorts of stimuli, be it from their environment, from other people, or from their own existence. The behaviour of such people is intuitive and impulsive, and, the varying sentiments and emotions come through, clearly, in their actions and reactions.

For these people, reality is a quickly changing kaleidoscope of mental images that are not guided in long and strictly controled logical sequences, but, these people form a quick succession of fleeting images with varying levels of reliability and reality. Yet, such people survive, too, often, very well, since their sensitive reactions to their environment may make them agile, versatile and adaptable, especially, when they have a well-developed and competent evaluating mechanism showing them, quickly and clearly, in a constant feed-back, whenever their behavioural responses have become inappropriate.

For these people, the world and imagery of the strict sciences is dull, incomprehensible, confining and irreal, and, their belief structures show widely varying components, which are incoherently organised or not organised at all. Yet, such people may excel in many fields of endeavour, in particular, where intuitive skills and emotive expressions are highly valued.

We need to take a close look at these people, time and again, to make us realise, that the world of science is, indeed, only one of the many possible ways to look at, and inter-act with, reality. The reality perception of the sciences, which is reality seen in a state of emotional neutrality, has certainly proven its usefulness and should continue to make a contribution. Hopefully, it will remain a lasting part of man's culture, and, there is good reason to believe, that man's culture would not last long, if this type of emotionally neutral and finely tuned behaviour would disappear. Nevertheless, it is only one particular example out of a spectrum of viable behaviour-patterns and reality perceptions, and, it seems likely, that our behaviour will always be coloured, at least, to some extent, by emotional impulses and a non-neutral way of looking at reality.

One of the least appealing features of the scientific point of view, is its tacit insistence upon representing an absolute reality. At least, many people, who have been schooled, at least, to some extent, in the sciences, adopt an attitude of unmistakable arrogance, reflecting the belief that the scientific reality is the only reality that is true or worthwhile to consider. Others are more perceptive, and they recognise, that the sciences do not provide us with many important answers about human destiny or essence, but, unfortunately, these people are too busy living their lives to come really to grips with the incompleteness and fragmentary nature of their scientific reality perceptions.

As soon as we give-in to the temptation to grasp for an absolute reality, we will have lost a remarkable chance to understand the quickly varying and flexible characteristics of human perceptions, and, we will be unable to grasp the concept, that reality perceptions are a function of our biological existence. Only, if we see scientific reality as a specific, but important way of looking at reality, only then, will we be able to understand the many different mechanisms of awareness we all experience, including those awarenesses and interpretations we call "para-normal" or "para-psychological".

Before we attempt an explanation for the phenomena of extra-sensory perception, we will have to review our concepts and ideas about normal reality perceptions. Let us try, once more, to outline these concepts, where we see, how each one of us has to make a series of poorly realised and often haphazard choices, before we can believe in, or experience, a "truth". A truthful image is an image we rely upon completely, and, we often stake our security, or, even, our lives upon the accuracy of this imagery. We are now able to outline, at least, to some extent, how, and why, we come to accept a conceptual framework which we call a belief in the truth. Since we have discussed these ideas before, we will summarise them, here, rather quickly.

.......

Chapter 6

Content

The helpless infant, and the limited range of infantile behavioural responses.
There is no awareness of our personal existence during infancy.
Early experiences are absorbed in a generalised form.
Learning about the limits of tolerated behaviour.
A remnant of closeness and trust in our attitudes towards good friends and close relatives.
The harmonious integration of a personality.
A complex piece of biological machinery.
Early experiences function as a major formative influence upon the development of a personality.
The deepest layers of truth.
A secondary layer of partially verbalisable, intuitive guidelines.
The top-layer; the conscious belief structure, is subject to modification during most of our life.
Fine-tuning behaviour-patterns in the emotionally neutral zone.
Emotionally neutral observations and logical reasoning become a foundation for scientific behaviour.
The many influences from our moods and emotions.
The distinction between the reality of an existing mental imagery, and, its function as a reliable representation of a contemporary reality.
Constructing a more elaborate and sophisticated framework of understanding, beyond the sphere of primary awarenesses.
The nature of a hallucination.
Dreaming and day-dreaming.
A "vision".
A break-down in the perception of reality, due to fatigue, drugs or illness.
A partial break-down in reality perceptions; delusions.
The temptation to practice self-deception, if reality becomes frightening or depressing.
The potentially disastrous consequences of the practice of self-deception, and the slide away from a grasp over reality.

It is important to recall, how helpless and totally dependent we are during the first few years of our lives. We are not even aware of our own existence or our surroundings, and, we react primitively to unpleasant stimuli with an undifferentiated cry, or, we snooze contently, when we are comfortable and free from hunger or thirst. During infancy, we absorb, quickly, a variety of experiences, including those, which show us the limits of our demands and behavioural exploits which our immediate social environment will tolerate. We also learn to what extent we can extract support and cooperation, and, within the next few years, we develop the ability to conceptualise, verbalise and communicate with others.

We absorb a part of the cultural code of the society we have been born into, and, we search, continuously, for possibilities to maintain our existence and advance our well-being. We seek, intuitively, the extent and limitations of our ability to manipulate our social and natural environments. Most of us retain close contacts in an attitude of mutual trust and inter-dependence with some of our nearest friends and relatives. We learn, which members of the social environment will dominate us, and, which we can dominate. We differentiate our behavioural reactions ever more finely, and, eventually, most of us are able to find a harmonious way of living within our particular social and natural surroundings, communicating continuously our sensations, awarenesses, fears and hopes.

We find ourselves as a complex piece of biological and socially integrated machinery, existing, somewhere, on earth. Some of our earliest experiences have been totally lost as a specific experience, and yet, those initial experiences formed a basic framework for the classification of our sense-impressions and reaction-patterns, and, these guidance structures become the deepest, but least realised, "truths" upon which we base a good deal of our intuitive and subconscious behaviour-patterns. The most unquestioned behavioural reactions and most relied-upon "truths" in our reality perceptions are nearly completely outside the focus of our conscious awareness, since they are unquestioned and taken for granted.

Super-imposed on this basic framework of our personality is a complex web of intuitive guidelines. These are partly verbalisable, and, they have been strongly influenced by early childhood experiences. These early experiences, together with biologically inherited inclinations and the characteristics resulting from culturally absorbed cultural guidelines, enable us to handle, almost without any conscious effort, the most common and routine situations.

Our conscious, verbalisable reality picture is a structure of concepts we believe to represent truths, and, this structure represents another behavioural guidance-pattern, which we have acquired during the course of our unfolding. While the major outlines of our conscious beliefs have been laid-down during the period of our development, the details of such a conscious structure of beliefs undergoes modifications during most of our life-time. This is the guidance-structure we are acutely aware of. Perhaps, it is the only guidance structure we are really aware of, but, the very fact that we are so conscious of it, means, that it has taken some effort to acquire and master it.

In this conscious sphere of our beliefs, we "fine-tune" our behaviour as we construct, actively, deliberately and consciously, our responses according to what we believe to be true. We learn to see the advantage of a behavioural response that is finely in tune with the circumstances, and, we learn to appreciate the increased mastery that comes with precise, emotionally neutral observations and logical reasoning. These capabilities lie at the root of our scientific endeavours.

However, our powers of observation make us also aware of the existence of numerous experiences, emotions, moods, feelings, anxieties, hopes, aspirations, etc. We learn to abstract and verbalise these awarenesses as conceptual symbols. It becomes apparent to us, that we seldom react, solely, in the sphere of emotional neutrality, where we behave with a calculating clarity of mind, nearly completely uninfluenced by emotional impulses. Most often, we have to struggle in order to control a profusion of emotional impulses, which are frequently chaotic and contradictory in nature. Our behaviour gains in viability, if we succeed to control our emotions and evaluate circumstances carefully.

Because of these faculties, we have learned to make an important distinction. We are able to distinguish, most of the time, whether or not our mental images or concepts constitute a reliable reality perception or "truth; wether or not we are only reviewing in our mind a series of possibilities of existence, projections of fears and hopes, wishful fantasies or memories, as well as images of past experiences.

Most of the time, we are able to filter from the profusion of contemporary sensory impressions, a pattern that fits into a larger overall picture of reality, and, we modify, subconsciously, the apparent reality into a larger, more sophisticated reality. Therefore, we do not experience, anymore, as a reality, that the sun circles around the earth, and, we visualise, (but we do not experience this), how the earth rotates around its axis and causes an apparent encircling of the earth by the sun.

We have also learned to see, that a memory or fantasy may be unreliable as a guidance for our behavioural responses, because it may not reflect a contemporary reality, while we acknowledge the existence of such a mental image of "non-reality", as a reality or a fact. In other words, if I have an image in my mind, where I see myself driving a car, while, in fact, I sit in a chair at home, I know, that such an image does not represent a reality of the moment, but the awareness that I have such an image in my mind, is an actual reality.

In a hallucination, I experience a vivid stream of awarenesses passing through my mind without knowing that they are not real, and, therefore, I behave and react as if the content of these hallucinations is real. In day-dreaming, I may also have a vivid stream of images going through my mind, but, I am able to know, at any time, that the stream of mental images is fictitious, and, I can, if I want to, come back to a focus of attention that recognises a contemporary reality. A vision represents a similar occurrence, where I experience a sudden strong sense of reality about an image which, I know, does not represent a reality.

During a dream, we are not aware that we are dreaming, but, we notice, in retrospect, (remembering fragments of our dream, after we we have woken-up), that we participated in the mental imagery of this dream. We were, then, totally oblivious of the fact, that it was a dream, and, we behaved in this dream with a sense of normality and acceptance, which we would immediately reject as nonsense, impossible, illogical or fantastic, when we are awake.

Under the influence of fatigue, prolonged isolation and certain drugs, we are all prone to experience a break-down in the perception of reality. This means, that we may lose the ability to distinguish between the perception of a contemporary reality, a fantasy, or a remembered image. Obviously, any break-down in reality is dangerous, since we may lose completely the ability to react appropriately to the circumstances of the moment.

A reality break-down may be partial, and, it may involve only a specific facet of reality. The fact, that we may experience, in certain areas, a reality perception that is totally different from the commonly accepted perception or interpretation of reality, may not be obvious to outsiders in a superficial contact. If we show only in certain areas a marked deviation from commonly accepted reality perceptions, we are dealing with "delusions". Under the influence of emotional needs, insecurity, anxiety, incipient depressions, or a lack of confidence, we may start to perceive our own inter-actions with the environment in a somewhat different and, perhaps, peculiar light. We may begin to believe some of our subtle wishful thoughts as a mild form of self-deception. This self-deception is often restrained and transient, and, it helps us bolster our optimism or sense of achievement, while, in reality, these incipient forms of self-deception lay the foundation for future failures, since we start to neglect the negative feed-back upon which a careful and realistic grasp of reality has to be based.

The clearest and most detailed image of reality is formed by the ability to finely tune our behaviour in the emotionally neutral zone. We see, then, how our decisions and reactions are precisely adjusted to the needs of the moment, but, if we are subjected to delusions, or any other form of deception, we can not make use of all the relevant feed-back when formulating a response. Then, we slide out of this zone of emotional neutrality, because the mis-match between the commonly accepted reality and our perception of it, increases, constantly, the level of insecurity and anxiety, and the success rate of our behavioural adaptations suffers dramatically, aggravating the incidence of failures. This, in turn, leads to an even greater emotional need to suppress the awareness of painful failures, and, we increase the level of self-deception. We see a vicious circle towards total failure, as well as a total reality break-down, which interferes fundamentally with our ability to exist.

.......

Chapter 7

Content

The search for a larger common denominator in reality perceptions, in stead of an absolute reality.
Truth, seen as a reliable concept, or, as a relied-upon pattern of behaviour.
The fragility and transience of a conceptual grasp over reality.
The constant vigilance necessary to keep our perceptions clear and emotionally neutral.
The deep-seated behaviour patterns, and their limitations as guidance-patterns for behavioural fine-tuning.
The intuitive skills of assessing human motivations and reactions.
The reality of "emotional non-neutrality".
The slow learning processes of grasping emotionally non-neutral behaviour-patterns in an emotionally neutral framework of concepts.
The wide range of sensory perceptions.
The concept of "sub-liminal stimuli".
A narrow and exclusive awareness-stream, channeled by the logical will.
The discrepancy between our sense of reality, and, the narrow zone of an emotionally neutral and scientically sound reality perception.
A sufficient basis for the explanation of extra-sensory perception?
The enforcers of a sense of reality; experience, manipulability and experimental checks.
The phenomenon of "premonition".
The reality of an experience.
The questionable implications and interpretations of this experience as a reliable perception of reality.
A subconscious review of possibilities as a preparatory stage in the process of evaluating the meaning of a stimulus.
Quick associations and a kaleidoscopic review.
The sense of mystery and foreboding, when experiencing an unexplained ability to predict or foresee an immediate future.
When we are unaware of subconscious mechanisms.
The forgotten miscalculations.
The possibility of having received subliminal clues.

We have argued, before, that we have no chance of finding a truly universal and absolute reality, but, we may search for an ever larger common denominator of agreement amongst ourselves about the truth or reliability of our concepts and behavioural reactions. The fragility and transience of our conceptual grasp over reality becomes so abundantly clear, whenever we reflect upon the nature of human awareness and the way we build our conceptual belief structures. The constant vigilance we have to excercise when screening the validity of our primary sense impressions, as well as the, sometimes, wildly flowing river of our mental imagery, re-enforces the fragile relativity of our reality experiences.

Our more deep-seated, intuitive and basic reaction-patterns are less subject to change or intellectual scrutiny, and, they constitute a deeper and, often, more relied-upon sense of reality. Yet, these intuitive, subconscious patterns seem to be less successful as a basis for behavioural fine-tuning and grasp over an emotionally neutral reality, because of their emotional influences. While our manipulative ability has increased remarkably with emotionally neutral observations, our ability to sense human motivations and reactions, or, to react adequately to a variety of subconscious or subliminal stimuli, is virtually exclusively the domain of an intuitive grasp over reality.

The reality-experience of our moods and emotions, the convincing reality of the experience of beauty, or a surge of ecstasy, sorrow or depression, these experiences do not depend on an emotionally neutral ability to observe. As a matter of fact, we have a tendency, emotionally not entirely neutral, to suppress these experiences, when attempting to maintain or reach a zone of emotional neutrality. We still have to learn, by and large, to come to grips, in an emotionally neutral and intellectually balanced manner, with the realm of our moods and emotions.

In summary; we have learned to distinguish, abstract and conceptualise in an emotionally more or less neutral zone of observations; we have learned to be aware of the fragility of the conceptualised beliefs and guidance-patterns which we use in our grasp over reality. We are, finally, beginning to extend the grasp of an emotional neutral reality perception to experiences with an emotional and intuitive content. We have learned to appreciate the influence of these non-verbalised, basic guidance-patterns, which function nearly completely below or beyond the level of conscious awareness, and, we understand, at least, something, of the nature of this broad stream of mental images flowing almost continuously through our minds.

We know, now, that the range of sensory perceptions is far wider and far more extensive than the small group of conscious awarenesses arising from them. We know, that we are influenced by our sense impressions, often, beyond the level of our conscious awareness, and, we have formulated a concept of "subliminal stimuli". These stimuli may influence us profoundly, while escaping detection by our conscious evaluating mechanisms. We have also seen, how the mental efforts of concentration and logic channel the flow of our awarenesses into a narrow stream, and, it should not surprise us, that our sense of reality does not co-incide with a scientifically proven reality.

Do we have a sufficient foundation, now, to attempt a coherent theoretical discussion and explanation of the group of phenomena, loosely described as "extra-sensory perceptions", "psy", or para-normal or para-psychological phenomena? Experience, manipulability, predictability and experimental checks are the great re-enforcers of a sense of reality. If I experience, several times, the strong sensation, that I know, who is on the telephone, or, who rang the door-bell, even before I answered, I will come to the conclusion, that there must be an extra-ordinary way, or force, that allows me to sense this reality, before I had a chance with my ordinary senses to learn who was calling. Logically, the more frequently I experience such phenomena or witness them in others, the more likely I will come to the conclusion, that there must be mechanisms of communication or thought-transfer which are "beyond" the known forms of communication, and, consequently, my sense of mystery and intrigue has been aroused.

The reality of the experience is undeniable, and, this experience occurs so frequently, that it is well-known, well-verbalised and frequently debated and investigated, but, is it a valid conclusion to say, that we are dealing with "mysterious forces", or, with a perception that falls outside the realm of our senses. Probably not.

Normally, if the phone rings, I would have no idea, who would be calling, and, most of the time, I do not consciously, or subconsciously, anticipate a call from anyone in particular. I do not even ask myself, who it may be. Emotionally neutral, un-aroused, I go to the phone and say "hello", unless I have been disturbed, once too often, and, I may then be somewhat irritated as I answer the phone.

If I get, suddenly, or, apparently suddenly, a strong "feeling" that it is probably so and so, I will have to ask myself; why? Was I expecting a call from this person? Often, I would not be aware of any anticipation on my part, but, do I know what this sudden ring does to the flow of my mental images? If I am concentrating on a particular problem, I will subconsciously shut-out any disturbances, and, I may hardly notice the ring, but, if I am a person with a rich variety of mental image-streams, this sudden sensory intrusion may cause marked alterations in my image-flow. All kinds of associations may quickly well-up and the immediate anticipation of who it may be, could be responsible for a quick, kaleidoscopic review of possibilities, associations and thoughts.

It is conceivable, that I review, subconsciously and quickly, almost all the possible callers, and, I may even select a few as the more likely candidates. I may remember, again, mostly subconsciously, all sorts of circumstances that may make it likely that so and so is calling. These processes are intuitive and not verbalisable as clear-cut awareness processes, and yet, the results of these computer-like intuitive calculations may bring into my conscious awareness a limited number of possibilities. If one of these possibilities becomes, indeed, the reality, after the phone is answered, I will experience a sensation of incomprehension, mystery or fore-boding, and, I may, even, be somewhat frightened by my ability to "know", beforehand, who is on the line.

If I carry-out this type of rapid, subconscious review as a habit, I will fail, on many occasions, to arrive at an awareness or conclusion, that is substantiated as a subsequent reality, but, since these processes take place subconsciously, they will not be noted as "miscalculations", and, they may never surface as an awareness of a discrepancy. Only the positive results will stand-out, since they will enter the sphere of conscious awarenesses, and, we see, immediately, the difficulties we encounter, when trying to decide, whether or not such an experience was a "co-incidence".

If we experience such a "premonition" or feeling frequently, we will become convinced, that this can not be a co-incidence anymore, yet, we remain unaware of the large number of subconscious mental calculations that are going-on within ourselves. Besides, it is always possible, that the correlation between premonition and reality is caused by subconscious or subliminal stimuli, which brought the right person or event into the focus of our awareness, as soon as the door-bell or the phone rang. These two mechanisms; nl., a large variety of swift, subconscious calculations in a process of a subconscious review, and, the occurrence of unnoticed or sub-liminal stimuli or clues, may be responsible for a majority of the incidences of so-called premonitions or predictive abilities that seem to fall outside the sphere of normal psychological functions and explainable events.

.......

Chapter 8

Content

The phenomenon of "clair-voyance"; a definition.
The ability to see a "fragmentary reality", far removed physically or temporally.
The essential vagueness of clair-voyant clues.
Latitude of interpretation.
The clair-voyant as a precise informer?
The aura of credibility.
A play upon psychological needs and reactions.
The difficulty separating normal from para-normal abilities.
Psychological mechanisms of clair-voyancy.
The retrospective interpretation.
Psycho-kinesis; a psychological explanation.
The pre-existing twist.
The power of suggestion.
The suppression of critical faculties.
A complete surrender to authority in the hypnotic state.
Fraud and illusion.
Surreptitious changes in our belief-structures.
The fragility of beliefs.

Let us look, now, at the somewhat more complex phenomenon of clair-voyance. This is the apparent ability of some people to see fragments of a reality that is physically or temporally far removed from the clair-voyant medium. For example; a criminal offense with partial clues of the circumstances may lead a clair-voyant individual to see "fragments" of a reality, such as the location of a body, the scene of the crime, or, a glimpse of the criminal, which are, later, apparently corroborated by a completed investigation.

The nature of the clair-voyant clues is usually characterised by a vague perception of a place, a body of water, a building or road-way, a piece of clothing, etc., and the location of such a "vision" of a remote reality is again vague. It is just this vagueness that allows for a large degree of latitude in interpretation, and, this latitude can be used by various investigators in many different ways, each following his intuition or hunch, where such a fragment of clair-voyant information may fit into the overall picture of the whole reality.

Have you ever heard a clair-voyant give a precise description? If he would say that the body of the victim can be found at such and such an address, complete with street and house number, he, the clair-voyant would not be considered a great help, a real master in the art of clair-voyancy, but, he would, probably, be suspected of complicity, or, the source of his information would become the focus of intense questioning and scrutiny.

Indeed, how important is this aura of credibility or authority, which a "well-known" clair-voyant has. His deliberate and intuitive play upon the psychological needs and expectations of the people he works for, the carefully cultivated image of intense effort and concentration, as well as a casual demonstration of other para-normal capabilities, such as correctly identifying a place after having been taken there blind-folded, all these techniques may not amount to a deliberate fraud or a conscious deception of his audience, but, the whole atmosphere has the effect of enhancing the authority of a clair-voyant clue or contribution, and, it sets, therefore, the stage for the interpretation of subsequent events in a para-psychological light.

How do we separate these abilities from natural or normal psychological capabilities, where a highly sensitive and intelligent individual may shed a new light upon a previously unexplored avenue of investigation, or, where such a person may make a contribution by a conscious or subconscious evaluation of all the facts and circumstances relative to the case? Even, if only a limited presentation has been made of the facts to a clair-voyant individual, how can we exclude, that a clever and experienced person does not perceive far more information than we think he has been given? Familiarity with similar circumstances, regularly recurring problems, apparently insignificant questions or bits of information, can all have an effect on the mental processes of the clair-voyant, who is expected to give valuable clues in order to get a stagnated investigation going again.

The air of expectation, the large latitude of interpretation of apparent clues, the clever use of peripheral or subliminal information and impressions, familiarity and expertise with similar situations, as well as the expert ability of the clair-voyant to impress his surroundings, all these factors contribute to the likelyhood, that an essentially random or guessed clue can be interpreted, in retrospect, as having been a significant help or guidance. Such a retrospective interpretation re-enforces the "justification" of having asked for such help, and, it strengthens or clinches the belief in the existence of para-normal or para-psychological phenomena.

A similar interpretation can be given for the apparent ability to "move matter" with a psychological force, such as we see in the claim of one of the "greats" of para-psychological achievements, who was able to "bend" the keys of numerous people watching and witnessing his powers. The obvious question, whether or not these keys were already slightly bent before, unknown to their owners, provides a simple explanation for the effects of such a mass-suggestion.

The clever use of generally available but neglected observations can always be used to convince an audience of one's extra-ordinary powers, if, after a suitably magic ritual, the attention of the audience is focussed upon a phenomenon, not generally noticed before. How many people realise, that most keys, certainly those frequently used in fairly heavy locks, will, invariably show a slight twist? Besides, a belief in the possibility of the ability to bend metal with the power of the mind, will convince almost all people who are susceptible to suggestion, that they actually saw this happening before their eyes, or, that they could notice a definite difference between the degree of bend before and after the psychic experiment took place. Yet, how many people have been able to prove with accurate measurements, before and after the psycho-kinetic experiment, that, indeed, a bend or twist had been increased, or decreased, as a result of such an experiment?

In making use of the power of suggestion, we suggest, strongly, a certain reality perception to someone else, and, we make use of an aura of overwhelming authority and credibility. This image of authority and credibility is carefully cultivated with publicity, a recital of facts and miraculous feats, as well as a clever psychological manipulation, which make it possible to subdue, almost entirely, the powers of critical evaluation or scrutiny. It has been proven, many times, that a majority of people can indeed be persuaded to see, feel or hear sense impressions that are not there. It is even possile to subdue the normal behaviour of an individual and his constant contact with reality, (which is the basis for alertness and behavioural appropriateness), to the point of a complete, trance-like or automatic and mechanistic behaviour, where the submission to authority is absolute. Of course, such an ability to overwhelm or suppress the individuality of a human being depends, very much, on the credibility of the hypnotist, as well as on the passive non-resistance or willingness of the individual to be dominated so completely.

We should not forget, however, that many public performances of hypnotic states and trance-like behaviour depend on a deliberate and conscious complicity between "actors", and, we see, then, a "show"; an illusion, not a real act of hypnotic induction, which is not as easy to accomplish as most people are willing to believe.

The interpretation of any event can, therefore, be changed completely by altering, subtly or surreptitiously, our belief structures, and, especially, by suppressing all critical faculties. These factors constitute together the power of suggestion. After all, almost all of us have to accept nearly everything we know or believe on account of our faith in the story or information someone has given us. We have to believe one authority or another. We have to believe, that we are being told the truth, and, we are all rather gullible, since most of us lack the intellectual skills, or the motivation, to question the comforting, seductive reality that is being offered to us.

The answer to almost all questions of truth and reality go back, again and again, to an analysis of, and a reflection upon, the nature and fragility of our beliefs.

.......

Chapter 9

Content

The answers to para-psychological phenomena are to be found in a thorough analysis of the meaning of truth.
A fact is not a fact when seen in a relativistic reality perception.
The need for a reflection upon the nature of thought, judgement, belief and reality.
Aniticipating the disillusionment of "believers" in para-psychological phenomena.
Anticipating, also, the misgivings of traditional scientific thinking.
A life-long dedication to science and its existential implications.
The useless results of previous attempts to deny the reality of para-normal observations.
The initial confusion and bewilderment of relativistic thought.
The beauty of a relativistic comprehension.
A look back at our biological heritage; emotions and instincts.
Various levels of biological inter-actions; predation, parasitism and symbiosis.
The slow permeation of relativistic thought through our entire conceptual and behavioural world.
Relativity, seen as an indispensible tool to understand.
The abandonment of a search for an absolute truth.
The co-creation of reality.
A most important application of relativistic interpretations and attitudes in the re-evaluation of a conflict situation.
Self-deception and pseudo-rationality.

In essence, then, the answer to, or the interpretation of, the wide-spread belief in para-psychological phenomena is found in an analysis of the meaning of truth; the nature of our beliefs, the function of authority, as well as the credibility of those, whom we trust and believe. Even the seemingly irrefutable interpretation of a fact, any fact, assumes a different meaning, if we abandon the concept of an absolute reality, and, if we analyse the many mechanisms of our sense of reality in the light of the broad, multi-facetted streams of mental images we all experience.

A reflection upon the nature of thought, judgement, belief and reality, is essential, before we can hope to re-interpret the many confusing and conflicting scientific, para-scientific and religious beliefs that are current in our contemporary societies. However, while I may feel a sense of satisfaction with my efforts to synthesise a, for me, coherent picture of a relativistic reality, it is likely, that a large part of my audience will feel a sense of disappointment. The fervent believers in the existence possibilities of para-psychological phenomena, will only see in this discussion a worn-out attempt at "psychologising" the phenomena they are able to quote so extensively, and, which are, apparently, so well documented. The explanations, offered above, will be brushed aside with an impatient annoyance, since I turn-out to be, after all, one of the un-believers; a dogmatic, old-fashioned rationalist, who sees in everything that can not be explained, a barely hidden fraud or deception.

Yet, the orthodox scientists, who are unwilling and incapable of accepting anything less than absolute scientific proof, may also be highly disturbed at the suggestion, that there is no such thing as absolute scientific proof, after initially nodding in some sort of agreement at the idea, that all these phenomena can be explained psychologically. They will be even less pleased with the suggestion, elaborated more extensively elsewhere, that all scientific reality images are, essentially, only mental images. These images are created by man, and they are fleeting in their existence, often vague in the meaning of their details, but, these images have a remarkable aura of persuasion, whenever there is an honest and rigorous attempt to be careful and un-biased in a scientific evaluation or investigation.

So many people have devoted a life of long and hard work in one of the many sciences in order to make, laboriously, a small contribution in one or other forgotten corner of such a vast and un-overseeable field, and here is an obscure thinker, one of those old-fashioned general philosophers, pretentiously trying to capture the essence of reality in a slippery mental image of relativity.

What can we really believe? Have previous attempts at relativity, or mental idealism, not always led to a confused cacaphony of non-knowing, where only common-sense and a radical new start were able to sweep this nonsense with a broad condemnation into a corner of fortunate oblivion and irrelevance? I agree. the initial impression seems to be an invitation to unnecessary chaos and confusion, whenever we make reality and truth movable along the axes of a frame of reference, and, we are all too aware of the dangers resulting from ideological confusion and the non-knowing of goals, ideas and truths.

Yet, I will try, again and again, to show the logic and coherence, as well as the unsuspected vistas of understanding, which seem to flow from the concepts behind the relativity of truth and reality. We have seen, before, how we experience a strong sense of beauty, whenever a sensation of comprehension takes place; when chaos and contradictions suddenly reveal their hidden coherence and meaning. There is beauty, tolerance and viability in understanding, even, if the concepts of relativity apply just as well to the act of understanding reality in the light of relativity.

A sense of relativity when comprehending a truth or reality, as well as a feeling of cohesion that comes with such a relativistic view, enhance an experience of deep satisfaction when we grasp a relativistic beauty. We have to look back, again and again, to our biological heritage, our intuitive functions, our behavioural fine-tuning, this complex web of conscious, subconscious or subliminal stimuli, as well as the "river" of our mental imagery. Then, we see, how these images blend imperceptibly with the conceptual guidelines or belief structures we have absorbed from the cultural code, as we begin to understand, to some extent, the fragile nature of our sense of reality.

A look back at nature shows us the evolution of the living organisms, the phenomena of ruthless competition, such as predation and parasitism, but, we see, also, the many levels of symbiotic coherence and the new levels of meaning, existence and unity that become thereby possible.

Relativity becomes, slowly, an indispensible tool in our efforts to grasp reality, and, after experiencing, initially, some confusing moments when trying to absorb these concepts in a process of secondary image-transfer, we notice, that our conceptual realities become completely suffused by the principles of relativity, while they lose their separate identity as an idea we have to come to grips with.

The unity of science and religion, the relativity of truth, as well as the utilitarian, essentially egocentric and existential nature of our reality perceptions, start to blend with the reality perceptions of others. This is made possible by the adaptative functions that are inherent in a relativistic approach to the perception of reality. What is, becomes interwoven with what we are and what we want. The perception of reality changes from a ceaseless search for the "real" reality, to a conscious co-creation with nature and our fellow human beings, where we create the realities we want and need, rather than the search for an exclusive reality we, finally, think to have found and mastered.

The most fundamental application of the principles of relativity can be seen, whenever we try to overcome or modify the mechanisms of polarisation and confrontation. It will be helpful for our understanding, if we acknowledge that the conscious and deliberate belief structures we use as guidance-patterns for our behaviour, are predominantly coloured by our emotional and instinctive reactions, especially, in conflict situations, and, it will be beneficial to remind ourselves, that the rationality of our behaviour is, often, a secondary attempt to justify this behaviour. In other words; in a conflict situation, we tend to search for the rational arguments that justify our behaviour, and, since our behavioural reactions are, in reality, determined by our emotions and instincts, we have few difficulties deceiving ourselves with pseudo-logical or fallaceous reasons.

.......

Chapter 10

Content.

The important world of conflict situations.
Conflicts; abuse, exploitation, lack of respect, opportunism.
The failure to see the legitimate aspirations and anxieties of people who compete with us.
The unfathomed importance of childhood experiences.
The frustration of trust, and the emergence of an attitude of suspicion.
Social decay, and an inadequate level of care and guidance for the younger generations.
The basis for ethical behaviour-patterns.
A remarkable influence upon primary instincts by stringent social pressures.
The sacrifice of one's interests, and existence, on the basis of ethical impulses and social pressures.
The different groupings we give our loyalty to.
Ethics, as a social, cohesive cement.
Collective judgements.
Elitist behaviour; the establishment.
The baffling experiences of those born into a privileged class.
Hereditary positions of leadership.
The intelligent and reflective dissenter.
Differences between political and philosophical leadership.

We abandon, now, the fascinating field of extra-sensory perception all-together, in order to concentrate upon a more mundane, but also, more important field, where we discuss the influence of our reality perceptions upon conflict situations, and, vice versa. Let us look at the simplest form of a conflict situation, when we observe ourselves to be in contact with people we do not like, and, perhaps, fear, or, even, despise. The reasons, why we are irritated or upset by another individual, or, why we mistrust him or her, are, often, emotionally determined, but, they are also frequently rationalised. We may have been deceived, taken advantage of, or, we may feel to have been abused, humiliated, or, to have been dominated and exploited.

The common factor is a feeling, that contact with a disliked personality is not to our advantage, and, we see the obvious corollary, that a relationship may be seen as being advantageous by us, while it is perceived by the other party as irritating or exploitative. How often do we consider ourselves as clever or smart, when we outwit someone, and, how often do we fail to see ourselves in the position of the person who has been outwitted. We rarely consider the possibility, that our behaviour may be considered a disadvantage, an affront, or an act of exploitation by the other person or party, as long as we are satisfied that we got the best part of a deal.

During our infancy and childhood, we learn, by trial and error, but also, by examples, to what extent we can demand from our environment, and, to what extent we are expected to give and make a contribution to others. The over-riding, still unfathomed importance of the quality of example and guidance given to the young child, has been a subject for discussion on many occasions. We have also traced the disastrous consequences for a child, whenever a sense of trust in the environment has been frustrated and stunted by a severe degree of deprivation of care and affection, and, we have discussed the extreme feelings of defensiveness and mistrust, aggression and opportunism resulting from such unfortunate experiences. Yet, these same mechanisms of a stunted emotional growth, may occur collectively, if a society becomes confused, chaotic and decaying, because, then, the deprivation of care and guidance will take place on a very large scale indeed, endangering the viability of society and fostering blatantly egocentric attitudes, as well as the practice of corruption and inertia.

Consistent care, received as an infant or as a member of society, leads to a willingness to trust the people around us, and, it gives us the opportunity to acquire a set of socially acceptable behavioural guidelines. An increasing sensitivity to the rewards of approval and praise from the people around us provides the basis for the emotional satisfaction we derive from ethical behaviour-patterns, and, this sense of satisfaction, derived from praise, approval or admiration, makes it possible to modify and overcome, to a remarkable extent, the primary egocentric orientation of our behaviour. We have seen, how it is possible for a human being to be so completely guided by the pressures of social disapproval, or the rewards from social approval, that the behaviour of such an individual may lead to an act of self-sacrifice or utter disregard for one's existential needs.

We all are able to behave ethically, which means, that we are more or less sensitive to the praise and pressures from our environment. We all differ, however, in the size and composition of the group to whom we extend our loyalties. Ethical behaviour is necessary to secure social cohesion, mutual trust and identification with each other as belonging together. All these mechanisms have been discussed before, and, we are only mentioning, briefly, the factors that play a role in the background of many situations of conflict.

When we meet, we seem to judge each other nearly continuously. We judge each other according to our expectations about each other's behaviour, and, it is clear, that we seldom have identical expectations, in spite of the fact, that, most of our contacts take place with members of our immediate social environment. These differences in judgement are some of the most common causes for conflict situations. A core of people within society, the establishment, starts to consider itself the true heirs and guardians of the beliefs, traditions and culture of a particular social environment. A self-righteous, elitist attitude is always condescending in its contacts with others, and, this leads, inevitably, to conflict and alienation, in particular, since the more peripheral majority of a society is usually exploited, at least, to some extent.

The elitist is often unaware of his exploitative attitudes, since he sees his position and privileges as a natual birth-right. He accepts, unthinkingly, the cultural code, and, he will, often, experience an ill-understood hostility from the other members of society. This baffles the elitist members of the establishment, because they feel that they serve society so well. Disappointment may easily slide into an attitude of contempt for the masses, as well as a ruthless exploitation of their labours and position of weakness.

The heirs to elitist positions are always more defensive and egocentric than their forefathers, since they lack, as a rule, the capabilities which gave their forefathers a certain "right" and access to a leadership position. As soon as the persuasiveness and quality of a leadership deteriorates, respect for the position of authority diminishes, and the aspects of exploitation and inequality are increasingly felt as an irritant and an injustice.

The intelligent, somewhat reflective but vigorous individual may experience a series of encounters with members of the elite, and, he may feel to be misjudged, looked-down upon, excluded from positions of power and privilege, because his behaviour, or, his origin of birth do not conform with those of the elite. His attitudes, thoughts and questions may indicate a perception of reality that makes his behaviour and attitudes unintelligible for the establishment, and, logically, he will not be trusted.

If a dissenter is emotionally and intellectually in tune with a suppressed majority, he may become a persuasive articulator and political activist. If he lacks an intimate feeling for the aspirations of the common people, and, in particular, if the dissenter shows more complex thought-patterns than the common people, (as he takes into account the many conflicting aspects of any type of belief, opinion and objective), he will seem vague and unattractive to many others, and, he will retreat in the quiet contemplative world of thought and writing.

The role of the thinker is, therefore, never the same as that of the reformer or political leader. What the philosopher lacks in immediate appeal and persuasiveness, he should compensate for by presenting a highly refined and well thought-out reality perception that tries to make a contribution to the well-being of all people; enlarging understanding, rather than accentuating an often erroneous, superficial and emotional confrontation or polarisation of attitudes.

.......

Chapter 11

Content

Dissenting leadership, its rise to power and the phenomenon of elitism.
History repeating itself.
The importance of seeing broad similarities and generalisations in the behaviour of ourselves and our enemies.
The real players in a conflict situation; the emotions of aggression and contempt, fear and hatred.
The excitement of an atmosphere of decisiveness.
The most powerful organiser of human beahviour.
Our vital energies, and our inclination to fight.
Factors that modify our instinctive tendencies.
A comprehensible network of natural force-fields.
The need to teach our leaders the art of compromise and humility.
The danger of being lured by short-sighted and superficial leadership aspirations.
Worshipping power.
The need to re-evaluate our reality perceptions.
The possibility to live with a complex and difficult perception of reality.
Masters of our own destiny.
The difference between a possibility of existence and the actualisation of an existence possibility.
When there is insufficient time and opportunity to experiment.
The inability of natural selection to choose or shape the most viable form of social organisation.
The short-cut of the intelligent choice.
Limitations for the actualisation of conceptual possibilities of existence.
Conceptual concoctions.
The collective effort, made by mankind as a whole.
Guarding against a simplistic attitude of hopeful expectations and superficial solutions.
The possiblity to lose long-term viability by a short-sighted choice or a short-term solution.

Let us continue to trace the mechanisms of conflict and polarisation, while we concentrate on the dissenting individual or small grouping. The leader or leadership of a dissenting group begins to form its own particular reality perceptions, with its own code of behaviour and rigid truths. If the group becomes successful and powerful, it will attract its own periphery, and it will develop its own establishment. History is repeating itself, and, imperceptibly, the rebel against elitist establishment attitudes becomes himself a rigid establishment figure. Every establishment develops its own form of elitism, as well as its own reasons for dissent and challenge.

Unless we learn to see the similarities in attitudes and motivations between all groups of people, it will not be possible to break-through this ever-recurring cycle of elitist core-formation, gradual deterioration in relevance and flexibility, as well as the inevitable formation of dissenting nuclei, each growing into a center of power, persuasion and elitism.

In all confrontational situations, the emotive behaviour-patterns dominate, and, the intellectual beliefs tend to become rationalisations of attitudes that have already been adopted or decisions that have already been made. Aggressiveness, irritation and contempt, or, defensiveness, suspicion and fear, are the real players in any confrontation or situation of conflict, rather than the verbalised reasons and arguments delineating the intellectual dimensions of a conflict situation.

It is difficult to take a distance from our own attitudes when we slide into a situation of conflict. Our emotions have been aroused. Our behaviour-patterns are strongly influenced by our instinctive drives, Our thinking and judgements become clouded, and, we are, often, excited by an atmosphere of activity and decisiveness. We love a fight so much, because we have a strong, instinctive urge to engage in a situation of conflict, as long as we have the intuitive feeling that we are going to win. We experience in such moments the reality, that, aggression and combat are the most powerful, most clear-cut and most primitive organisational forces for human behaviour, providing a clear-cut path for the utilisation or dissipation of our vital energies whenever we respond to a call from our instinctive drives.

Only the knowledge of misery, and the memories of defeat, can persuade us to modify our behaviour. An awareness of the mechanisms of our emotions, together with an awareness about our shared biological heritage, as well as a balanced evaluation of the developments that led to a situation of conflict, are the essential factors that will help us temper our instinctive drives with an attitude of true rationality. These attitudes and activities will help us to see, that, in the larger framework of reality perceptions, right and wrong, good and evil, love and hate, disappear in a vast but comprehensible network of contrasting natural force-fields.

People with leadership inclinations find it more difficult to accept limitations in their sphere of power, or, to accept a relative validity of their judgements compared to us, ordinary people, who have already learned, a long time ago, to subdue our aggressive instincts. We will have to teach our leaders the art of accepting compromise and showing tolerance, while we may be guided, in many ways, by their vigorous talents. The follower is, by definition, an individual who becomes somewhat confused and unhappy, whenever he or she is faced with too large a responsibility of decision-making, and, such an individual is inclined to seek an advantageous alignment with a powerful leadership personality.

There is always the danger of being swept into an emotional euphoria by a strongly persuasive leader, and, power is, indeed, worshipped by the passive mind. We do not have to search far in history, before we find many disastrous examples of these psychological mechanisms, where persuasive but misguided leadership has led entire nations to utter ruination.

If we are able to see our reality perceptions and beliefs as a structure or function that is needed for our individual and collective existence, and, if we realise, how strongly this perception of reality is influenced by our instinctive and emotive behaviour-patterns, (and, how much of our beliefs has been accepted subconsciously, unreasoned, uncritical and undigested), then, we may be able to accept a far more difficult, emotionally far less satisfying perception of reality. We may lose an emotional crutch, but, we gain in overall viability, and, we may take the destiny of mankind away from the blind evolutionary forces of nature, and lead it onto a path of deliberate and consciously created events. Then, we will have become truly masters of our own destiny.

However, the perception of a possibility does not mean, that an actualisation of such a possibility is likely to happen. Probably, the odds are against ever accomplishing such a dream-like wisdom of mankind, and, we have discussed the consequences, if an experiment of natural evolution can not be fully explored because of an insufficient time-frame, as well as an insufficient number of experimental trials. The blind search for possibilities of existence is then unable to penetrate into all possible modes of existence, and, this is the main reason, why natural selection will not be able to find the most viable form of social co-existence for the human species. We will have to make use of the short-cut of an intelligent and deliberate choice, if we want to explore these possibilities of existence to the full.

We are, slowly, becoming aware of the likelyhood, that the actualisation of many forms of existence is indeed limited, because of a limited time-period and a limited number of test-situations. Just as we see limitations in the actualisation of existence possibilities in the realm of physical evolution, so may we consider the possibility, that a conceptual actualisation is also limited because of a lack of time or experimental opportunities.

Our conceptual structures are constantly nudged into one direction or another by numerous sense impressions and experiences, and, after a period of flexibility in adolescence and early maturity, we become set in our ways of thinking, and, we lose, progressively, the ability to be nudged this way or that. We may, then, be drifting futher and further away from a main-stream reality perception, comfortable in our opinions, judgements and prejudices, but, occasionally, we may sense a tension between the reality perception of others and ourselves. This tension may become the spur for a thorough re-evaluation of certainties and beliefs.

Some of us will embark upon a seemingly endless series of efforts to reduce such tensions by creating new schemes of conceptual coherence, trying-out the articulation or definition of new or renewed conceptual structures. The final test of viability for these conceptual concoctions may never be known to the author, who resigns himself to the realisation, that such a knowledge is essentially unimportant. Even, if these concepts do not find a response, the effort may still be worthwhile as a basis to work from for other people.

Let us see, then, what we can do, together, as a collective unit of mankind, and, not as the heirs to one particular culture or another. Let us see, what we can do with the ideas of relativity in reality perceptions, as well as the concepts that let us visualise the influence of our biological heritage upon our behaviour-patterns. Let us see, what our reactions will be, whenever we consider the possibility that all reality perceptions are, in essence, tools to struggle for a chance to live well and unfold a few of our potentials. Perhaps, it will be possible to grasp the concepts of knowing and behaving in a vast and beautiful vision of cohesion, minimising our own individual importance, but, finding value and meaning because of the lessened egocentricity of our outlook.

The awareness that we all share a biological or instinctive and emotional heritage, as well as the possibility to develop a clear understanding of the many ways in which this heritage determines our existence, may, eventually, lessen our tendency to fight, as we smile with a rueful sense of familiarity at the common emotions of aggression and fear. We may, eventually, learn to see, that there are more pressing problems than to fight each other for dominance and glory, or, for the lure of victory, power and wealth. However, let us guard against a simplistic hope to find easy solutions to the problems of conflict. Many promising possibilities in nature will never find a viable existence, and, many inadequate short-term solutions may well become the ultimate cause for a loss of the possibility to exist.

Let us re-evaluate, from time to time, what we believe to be true, and, let us question the reasons for whatever truth we believe in. Let us ask ourselves, whether or not our behaviour is viable in the long term; whether or not the solutions we are reaching for, will spell the end of our existence in the future. Such questions may give rise to a feeling of unpleasant uncertainty and a heightened anxiety, but, they may also become a fertile soil for a renewed contract of essential equality, with enhanced existence possibilities for the entire species of Homo Sapiens.

.......

Summary

1. A review of basic mechanisms in the perception of reality.
   The essence of a scientific reality perception.
   The fact and its validity.
   The communal aspects of the validity of an idea, concept or fact.
   Cultural influences upon scientific reality perceptions.
   The problems of specialisation.
   Three factors of scientific persuasiveness; verifiability, the absence of contradictions, and usefulness in mastery and predictability.
   Slight variations in perception, even between similar members of a small grouping.
   Stream-lining a concept or an idea into a single word.
   The slow permeation of new ideas.
   The persuasiveness of an increased predictability of events.
   Self-evident awarenesses.
   The statistical analysis.
   The tides at a sea-shore.
   Scientific efforts to prove correlations with the help of a statistical analysis
   Complexity and randomness.
   The occurrence of a "bias".
   A handful of sand, dropped on the floor.
   Random distribution or scatter.
   Chance; a deck of cards.
   
   
   
2. The phenomenon of telepathy.
   The difficult problem of "normal" communications.
   The synchronisation of thoughts and feelings by minute cues and sub-liminal perceptions.
   The techniques and the art of the "illusionist" or magician.
   The inability to be aware of all forms of communication.
   The subconscious modulation of a timing-sequence.
   Rigorous conditions for a telepathic experiment.
   The "transmission of images".
   The problem of signalling the begnning and end of a "telepathic" transmission.
   Investigating the existence of a possible "telepathic carrier wave", in contrast to investigating a series of possible modulations of this carrier-wave.
   How a telepathic experiment should be carried-out.
   
   
   
3. A lack of stringent controls.
   The para-psychologist as a believer.
   Intuitive reasons for adopting a belief.
   The wide world of perceptions; philosophically as well as physiologically.
   The influence on scientific thinking by a particular school of training.
   The tendency to see scientific images as reflections from an absolute reality.
   Existential considerations.
   The honest para-psychologist.
   Enthousiasm, and other motivations, as a reason for carrying-out para-psychological research.
   The baffling tales of human experiences.
   The inevitability of interpreting reality in the light of our beliefs.
   The influence of religious reality perceptions.
   Primary awarenesses and sensations, and the logic of a belief in an anthropomorphic force-field.
   The link between para-psychological interests, and religious feelings and notions.
   Naturally ocurring instances of telepathic thought-transfer, and the premonition or fore-knowledge of events.
   Difficulties evaluating such testimonies.
   The subconscious, broadly meandering stream of awarenesses.
   The subconscious activation of a specific memory-trace or thought-pattern.
   The factor of co-incidence, and the difficulty of evaluating the likelyhood of a co-incidence.
   Emotional difficulties when accepting a fact that upsets, fundamentally, a perception of reality.
   The superficial enthousiasm of the believing researcher, and, the narrow dogmatism of his obsessive critics.
   
   
   
4. It is difficult to know, how we know and believe.
   Common characteristics of extra-sensory phenomena.
   Relative values; the varying levels of persuasion that are required to believe a result.
   Credibility and authority; their roles in beliefs.
   The stalemate between believers and sceptics.
   Para-psychological phenomena as an integral part of a broadly based, relativistic reality perception.
   The likely lack of success of any attempt to please believers and non-believers alike.
   A review of the functions of the human mind.
   Conscious and subconscious awarenesses.
   The reality of existing mental images, regardless, whether or not these images represent "a reality".
   The "will" as an instrument for bundling the efforts of coherent thinking.
   Day-dreaming and reminiscing.
   Being alert and sensitive to the perception of a contemporary reality.
   A continuous referral to past experiences as a pre-requisite to recognise incoming sense impressions.
   The inter-play between projected actions and imagined results.
   The aimless wanderings of an idle mind.
   
   
   
5. The surfacing of mental images into a focus of awareness.
   Free associations.
   The influence of classification systems upon the linkage between mental images.
   The influence of a mood or emotional bias.
   Multiple streams of mental images, vying for a moment of attention.
   The image-stream we are aware of, is, probably, only a fraction of the total extent of this stream.
   The concentration of our will, and the influence of an attempt to think logically.
   Control over the image-stream.
   A glimpse of our sub-conscious imagery.
   The reality perceptions of emotional and sensitive people.
   Their quick-witted response to changing circumstances.
   The dull world of strictly scientific images.
   The scientific reality perception, seen as a specific form or type of perception within a large spectrum of awarenesses.
   Incoherent reality perceptions by many scientifically schooled people.
   A review of normal mechanisms, before we can discuss abnormal or para-normal phenomena.
   
   
   
6. The helpless infant, and the limited range of infantile behavioural responses.
   There is no awareness of our personal existence during infancy.
   Early experiences are absorbed in a generalised form.
   Learning about the limits of tolerated behaviour.
   A remnant of closeness and trust in our attitudes towards good friends and close relatives.
   The harmonious integration of a personality.
   A complex piece of biological machinery.
   Early experiences function as a major formative influence upon the development of a personality.
   The deepest layers of truth.
   A secondary layer of partially verbalisable, intuitive guidelines.
   The top-layer; the conscious belief structure, is subject to modification during most of our life.
   Fine-tuning behaviour-patterns in the emotionally neutral zone.
   Emotionally neutral observations and logical reasoning become a foundation for scientific behaviour.
   The many influences from our moods and emotions.
   The distinction between the reality of an existing mental imagery, and, its function as a reliable representation of a contemporary reality.
   Constructing a more elaborate and sophisticated framework of understanding, beyond the sphere of primary awarenesses.
   The nature of a hallucination.
   Dreaming and day-dreaming.
   A "vision".
   A break-down in the perception of reality, due to fatigue, drugs or illness.
   A partial break-down in reality perceptions; delusions.
   The temptation to practice self-deception, if reality becomes frightening or depressing.
   The potentially disastrous consequences of the practice of self-deception, and the slide away from a grasp over reality.
   
   
   
7. The search for a larger common denominator in reality perceptions, in stead of an absolute reality.
   Truth, seen as a reliable concept, or, as a relied-upon pattern of behaviour.
   The fragility and transience of a conceptual grasp over reality.
   The constant vigilance necessary to keep our perceptions clear and emotionally neutral.
   The deep-seated behaviour patterns, and their limitations as guidance-patterns for behavioural fine-tuning.
   The intuitive skills of assessing human motivations and reactions.
   The reality of "emotional non-neutrality".
   The slow learning processes of grasping emotionally non-neutral behaviour-patterns in an emotionally neutral framework of concepts.
   The wide range of sensory perceptions.
   The concept of "sub-liminal stimuli".
   A narrow and exclusive awareness-stream, channeled by the logical will.
   The discrepancy between our sense of reality, and, the narrow zone of an emotionally neutral and scientically sound reality perception.
   A sufficient basis for the explanation of extra-sensory perception?
   The enforcers of a sense of reality; experience, manipulability and experimental checks.
   The phenomenon of "premonition".
   The reality of an experience.
   The questionable implications and interpretations of this experience as a reliable perception of reality.
   A subconscious review of possibilities as a preparatory stage in the process of evaluating the meaning of a stimulus.
   Quick associations and a kaleidoscopic review.
   The sense of mystery and foreboding, when experiencing an unexplained ability to predict or foresee an immediate future.
   When we are unaware of subconscious mechanisms.
   The forgotten miscalculations.
   The possibility of having received subliminal clues.
   
   
   
8. The phenomenon of "clair-voyance"; a definition.
   The ability to see a "fragmentary reality", far removed physically or temporally.
   The essential vagueness of clair-voyant clues.
   Latitude of interpretation.
   The clair-voyant as a precise informer?
   The aura of credibility.
   A play upon psychological needs and reactions.
   The difficulty separating normal from para-normal abilities.
   Psychological mechanisms of clair-voyancy.
   The retrospective interpretation.
   Psycho-kinesis; a psychological explanation.
   The pre-existing twist.
   The power of suggestion.
   The suppression of critical faculties.
   A complete surrender to authority in the hypnotic state.
   Fraud and illusion.
   Surreptitious changes in our belief-structures.
   The fragility of beliefs.
   
   
   
9. The answers to para-psychological phenomena are to be found in a thorough analysis of the meaning of truth.
   A fact is not a fact when seen in a relativistic reality perception.
   The need for a reflection upon the nature of thought, judgement, belief and reality.
   Aniticipating the disillusionment of "believers" in para-psychological phenomena.
   Anticipating, also, the misgivings of traditional scientific thinking.
   A life-long dedication to science and its existential implications.
   The useless results of previous attempts to deny the reality of para-normal observations.
   The initial confusion and bewilderment of relativistic thought.
   The beauty of a relativistic comprehension.
   A look back at our biological heritage; emotions and instincts.
   Various levels of biological inter-actions; predation, parasitism and symbiosis.
   The slow permeation of relativistic thought through our entire conceptual and behavioural world.
   Relativity, seen as an indispensible tool to understand.
   The abandonment of a search for an absolute truth.
   The co-creation of reality.
   A most important application of relativistic interpretations and attitudes in the re-evaluation of a conflict situation.
   Self-deception and pseudo-rationality.
   
   
   
10. The important world of conflict situations.
    Conflicts; abuse, exploitation, lack of respect, opportunism.
    The failure to see the legitimate aspirations and anxieties of people who compete with us.
    The unfathomed importance of childhood experiences.
    The frustration of trust, and the emergence of an attitude of suspicion.
    Social decay, and an inadequate level of care and guidance for the younger generations.
    The basis for ethical behaviour-patterns.
    A remarkable influence upon primary instincts by stringent social pressures.
    The sacrifice of one's interests, and existence, on the basis of ethical impulses and social pressures.
    The different groupings we give our loyalty to.
    Ethics, as a social, cohesive cement.
    Collective judgements.
    Elitist behaviour; the establishment.
    The baffling experiences of those born into a privileged class.
    Hereditary positions of leadership.
    The intelligent and reflective dissenter.
    Differences between political and philosophical leadership.
    
    
    
11. Dissenting leadership, its rise to power and the phenomenon of elitism.
    History repeating itself.
    The importance of seeing broad similarities and generalisations in the behaviour of ourselves and our enemies.
    The real players in a conflict situation; the emotions of aggression and contempt, fear and hatred.
    The excitement of an atmosphere of decisiveness.
    The most powerful organiser of human beahviour.
    Our vital energies, and our inclination to fight.
    Factors that modify our instinctive tendencies.
    A comprehensible network of natural force-fields.
    The need to teach our leaders the art of compromise and humility.
    The danger of being lured by short-sighted and superficial leadership aspirations.
    Worshipping power.
    The need to re-evaluate our reality perceptions.
    The possibility to live with a complex and difficult perception of reality.
    Masters of our own destiny.
    The difference between a possibility of existence and the actualisation of an existence possibility.
    When there is insufficient time and opportunity to experiment.
    The inability of natural selection to choose or shape the most viable form of social organisation.
    The short-cut of the intelligent choice.
    Limitations for the actualisation of conceptual possibilities of existence.
    Conceptual concoctions.
    The collective effort, made by mankind as a whole.
    Guarding against a simplistic attitude of hopeful expectations and superficial solutions.
    The possiblity to lose long-term viability by a short-sighted choice or a short-term solution.

.......