Return to: Spirituality and Paranormal Phenomena DO PEOPLE GUIDE PSI OR DOES PSI GUIDE PEOPLE? EVIDENCE AND IMPLICATIONS FROM LIFE AND LAB

ABSTRACT: An emerging and potentially important strategy in parapsychological research has researchers openly discuss how their personal psi experiences have influenced their thinking about psi. The present paper discusses characteristics of psi based on research findings supplemented by the author's personal psi experiences and professional experiences outside of parapsychology. Psi experiences tend to inspire a worldview that is more interconnected, purposeful, and/or spiritual. The change in worldview may be the primary function of psi. The great majority of spontaneous psi experiences do not change the outcome of events or have other tangible, practical benefits. Situations that involve strong motivations may be convenient vehicles for this transformative function rather than indicating that psi is directed by other human motivations as traditionally assumed in parapsychology. Examination of one of the author's experiences that had a clear practical benefit revealed that the benefit could have been achieved more easily in a less dramatic and less conspicuously paranormal manner. The possibility that psi is guided by factors other than the motivations of the people involved is suggested by the recurring theme that psi appears to be "self-obscuring " and by cases when psi experiences change a person's life direction. The occurrence of psi varies greatly among individuals and appears to reflect substantial innate or genetic differences. Transpersonal research methods may provide valuable insights into these aspects of psi. As numerous writers have pointed out, the lack of understanding of the basic nature of psi phenomena presents several fundamental dilemmas and questions for parapsychology: 1. Psi is assumed to be directed by human motivation and intention (Braud & Schlitz