CHAPTER 2
The Exotic Abilities of Mankind
'My inference is a different one; it is that the human personality has both material and psychological powers that we do not know. In our present state of knowledge, we are not in a position to know.'When Pope in 1711 told us that "the proper study of mankind is man," he did not realize how much our species objects to self-scrutiny. Even today, some readers will find this chapter unusual, and others unacceptable. Nevertheless, it must treat of this necessary and important subject, if we are to advance in knowledge and self-concept. Our task is two-fold: first to produce a map or taxonomy of the domain, and second to categorize various incidents and accounts into that paradigm.
-Charles Richet
By "mankind" (with apologies to feminists) we shall mean the human race collectively, (as in the first sense of the dictionary definition.) By "ability" we shall, in accordance with the same authority, mean "the power or capacity to do or act in any relation" as well as "talents, mental gifts or endowments." Thus ability involves both knowledge and power.
It may be desirable to linger for a moment on the word "exotic," one of whose definitions is "strikingly unusual." Curiously enough, it is not the magnitude and ability of a power which excites admiration and surprise in us, it is the "strikingly unusual" aspect. The ability of a pigeon to "home" is a major example of spatial visualization, not possessed by a majority of humans, yet it is not considered "exotic" because it is a common phylogenic ability of homing pigeons.
One may turn this point around, and note that abilities which are now considered exotic and occult, may someday be considered commonplace and ordinary. The derivation of the word "to read" for example, is cognate to a kind of divination, because when reading first was introduced, the common folk who could not read felt it was an occult power. . .
For "occult" let us substitute "latent, subconscious cognitive ability," and stipulate that such ability is the product of right
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hemisphere functioning, in contradistinction to most "accepted" talents, which are the product of left hemisphere functioning, - verbal ability being a prime example.
While it does not write or speak, the right hemisphere seems to have enormous advantages over the left in its ability to contact an impersonal universal source of knowledge which we have elsewhere (Gowan 1975:3) called "the collective preconscious" or the "numinous." This giant computer memory (outside of time and space) is the source of all creativity, all paranormal knowing, all of the hidden (occult) faculties. Hence it represents an enormous expansions of man's powers, and forms the central explanation of this chapter.
With this understanding behind us, we are left with two points of procedure:
1) How to gain easy access to right hemisphere functioning, and2) How to mediate right hemisphere, (dumb, non-verbal), knowledge through the left hemisphere so as to have a verbal output.
Since we are elsewhere on record in these regards, (Gowan 1978a)
we shall merely summarize here that both operations are easily executed
with a little practice, and go on to other implications.
One of the most important of these is that the entire present theory of intelligence (as exemplified by the Structure of Intellect model) is really a map of left hemisphere functioning, as is the Stanford-Binet Individual Intelligence Test (and all other IQ measures). We have not really begun to map the possibilities of the right hemisphere.
That the potential talents of mankind lie supine in most of us is evident from Jane Robert's "Seth" (1974:333) who declares:
"The performance of great athletes gives evidence of abilities inherent in the human form that are little used. Great artists by their very works demonstrate other attributes latent in the race as a whole ... Within the experience of your race lie all the patterns that would point to some fully developed(page 48)
human being, in which all inherent tendencies were given full plan and come to fruition."That this development process in some people may continue throughout life, involving increasing escalation through right hemisphere function is also "Seth's" view, (ibid:294):
"As the mind within the body clearly sees its earthly time coming to an end, mental and physical accelerations take place. These are in many ways like adolescent experiences in their great bursts of creative activity ... and the preparation for a completely new kind of personality growth and fulfillment ... Many instances of the growth of consciousness, and mental and psychic growth are interpreted by you as senility . . . The experiences, however, affect the right hemisphere of the brain, in such a way that abilities are released in somewhat the same manner as an adolescent's . . . The individual at this time begins to see beyond temporal life, to open up dimensions of awareness ... This is one of the most creative, valuable aspects of your lives ... Old age is a highly creative part of living . . . Even the chemical and hormonal changes are those that are conducive to spiritual and psychic growth . ."
Consider the prescience of the North American Reviewer, (April
1855, as quoted by Podmore 1902:290), in attempting a theory to account
for some of the phenomena of physical mediumship: "it is probably . . .
the right hemisphere of the brain which in the trance state acts independently
of its usual controlling centers in the left hemisphere ..."
The inspiration which is always attendant upon genius appears to follow
from the easy production of right hemisphere images, which are then mediated
by the left hemisphere into intellectually negotiable form. Consider Tyrrell
(1936:30ff):
"It is a highly significant, though generally neglected, fact that those creations of the human mind, which have borne preeminently the stamp of originality and greatness, have not come from within the region of consciousness. They have come from beyond consciousness, knocking at its door for admittance: they have flowed into it, sometimes slowly as if by seepage, but often with a burst of overwhelming power. This fact did not escape the keen observation of Socrates: 'I soon found,' he said, 'that it is not by wisdom that the poets create their works, but by a certain natural power and(page 49)
by inspiration, like soothsayers and prophets, who say many fine things, but who understand nothing of what they say.'"How comes it that the finest products of the mind are, in this sense, extramental? What is there outside consciousness which can produce them? They come not only with power, but often with something exotic and other-worldly about them. Sometimes they bring with them a sense of exquisite joy. In his Hymn to Intellectual Beauty, Shelley says: 'Sudden thy shadow fell on me; I shrieked and clasped my hands in ecstasy.' And there is also a sense of revelation. In Mont Blanc he exclaims: 'Has some unknown omnipotence unfurled the vale of life and death?' The task of consciousness is not to create but to seize this inrush and express it. The difficulty is immense.
"'Poetry,' declared Shelley, 'is not like reasoning, a power to be exerted according to the determination of the will.' A man cannot say: 'I will write poetry. The greatest poet even cannot say it.' One after another the great writers, poets, and artists confirm the fact that their work comes to them from beyond the threshold of consciousness. It is not as though this material came passively floating towards them. It is imperious, dynamic, and willful. Blake said of his poem, Milton: 'I have written this poem from immediate dictation, twelve or sometimes twenty or thirty lines at a time, without premeditation, and even against my will.'"Keats said that the description of Apollo in the third book of Hyperion came to him 'by chance or magic - to be, as it were, something given to him.' He said also that he had 'not been aware of the beauty of some thought or expression until after he had composed and written it down.' It had then struck him with astonishment and seemed rather the production of another person than his own.
"Madame Guyon confesses that 'before writing I did not know what I was going to write; while writing I saw that I was writing things I had never known.'
"Goethe said of his poems: 'The songs made me; not I them.'
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"Wordsworth told Bonamy Price that the line in his ode beginning: "Fallings from us, vanishings,' which has since puzzled so many readers, refers to those trance-like states to which he was at one time subject. During these moments the world around him seemed unreal and the poet had occasionally to use his strength against an object, such as a gatepost, to reassure himself.' And when the power would not come, the conscious mind was helpless. 'William tired himself with hammering at a passage,' wrote Dorothy Wordsworth. It was useless if the power was denied.In searching therefore, for "occult" and exotic abilities possessed by only a few, we are not so much entering arcane paths, as we are attempting to catch the first faint glimpses of a "shore dimly seen," -- emerging powers of mankind, now seen in a few rare and generally higher developed individuals, someday, hopefully, to be seen in the generality of men. We are furthermore attempting to show that these powers are associated with the operation of increasing order both in the individual integration, and in the evolution of society."Dickens declared that when he sat down to his book, 'Some beneficent power showed it all to him.' And Thackeray says in the Roundabout Papers: 'I have been surprised at the observations made by some of my characters. It seems as if an occult Power was moving the pen.'"
Mental abilities, according to the Guilford SOI model depend on three
components:
1) Input information (contents).
2) Throughput process (process).
3) Output action (product).
In the usual mental abilities, input is conveyed to be mind through
the senses. A semantic question then arises: are there higher abilities
(telepathy might be an example) where input information is not received
from the senses? We will solve this dilemma by ukase: input must be received
through senses: where a known sense does not exist, we simply postulate
the existence of an unknown one.
Another semantic question has to do with the difference between quantity and quality. Let us say that an individual or
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species a) has a higher ability by a factor of X to discern a certain sensory level than another individual or species b) if X=2, the difference is quantitative. But suppose X=1 million, have we now a qualitative difference? Since Wechsler (1974) laid down the law for the limit of inter-individual differences in the same species as "e", (2.718), we shall assume that this is the limit between quantitative and qualitative differences in one species. These words merely mean that the ability is operated on a different principle in one case than the other. We will leave undefined the limits between quantitative and qualitative differences between species.
Let us informally define "exotic abilities" by the following characteristics:
EXOTIC ABILITIES
1) Are not miraculous and are not generally considered miraculous by those who possess them. They are considered matter-of-fact extensions of more ordinary abilities.2) They are "shy" abilities, never used for spectacular effects, best operated when not paid attention to, often only inferred by others, because not claimed by the individual, and often only realized after the fact.
3) They require finer extensions of ordinary powers of more magnitude of difference. They are, therefore, found in those who have practiced careful and precise inspection in some discipline, and who are open to the discrepancies afforded by conventional thought about the discipline.
4) They are ephemeral and tenuously held, hence, usually not under the full control of the possessor, but available to him at some times more than others. They are not graces, nor illustrations of divine nor cosmic favor. They should, therefore, never be regarded by the possessor with spiritual pride but only as adventitious occurrences.
5) They depend upon the most careful tuning and attention to small vibrations, and the consequent power to amplify that which has come to the mind as a radio signal.
6) They are creative in the sense of extending the incubation process from an unconscious to an intuitional
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practice.
To those who wonder about the commensurability of exotic and conventional abilities, we may point out as follows:
7) Nevertheless, the exact mechanism of their practice and production is almost never well understood by the possessor.8) They represent in wild form the nascent sport or mutant ability which can by practice and education be domesticated into an enhanced power.
9) They represent earnests of the fact that man is created in the cosmic image and that mankind in totality possesses in posse all of the transcendent abilities of his Creator.
1 ) There is no easy place to draw a distinction between ordinary and exotic abilities; they form a taxonomy in a family, rather than a dichotomy of distinction.Biofeedback expert Barbara Brown, author of New Mind, New Body, at a Los Angeles conference spoke of the laws of "super-mind" (as reported by Ferguson 1978:2, July 3, 1978):2) Not only are the abilities similar, but so are their first derivatives: precocity in respect to exotic abilities seems very similar to precocity in respect to ordinary abilities.
3) A large number of mystics (i.e., those possessed of exotic abilities) have also been very bright, suggesting that ordinary and exotic abilities are positively correlated with each other in similar fashion to the positive correlation among ordinary abilities.
4) The specification of exotic abilities (e.g., one saint will have this power, another saint that power) and the rare versatility of exotic abilities in masters (such as Jesus) is very similar to the corresponding psychological manifestations of conventional abilities in those possessed of a strong aptitude (e.g., Mozart) compared with a universal genius (e.g., Goethe, Leonardo, Einstein).
5) The development of exotic abilities through exercise, education, experience and eduction by a mentor is very similar in both kinds of abilities.
Human beings possess an innate awareness of the state of their
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biological being, from the total physical body image down to the awareness of a single cell.Human beings possess an innate ability to form complex abstract concepts from primal sensory data.
Human beings possess an innate ability to exert control over the direction and flow of nerve impulses in any nerve of the body of their choosing.
The human mind has the innate ability to supervene and direct the physical activities of every physiologic function of the body, within the limits of physical nature.
The mind of human beings can control the physical activity of the brain. (... The ultimate control of the brain by the mind itself is, of course, during thinking .... Thinking is voluntary control of the brain.)
All diseases of society originate in the intellectual processes of man.
The highest-order intellectual capacities of man reside in and may always reside in what we call the unconscious.
It is obvious from the foregoing that many human powers and abilities
are not fully conscious, being part of the autonomic nervous system or
skin-reaction. The bringing of this somatic knowledge to consciousness
and, hence, to control is part of biofeedback procedure. The concept is
also enlightening in clarifying the distinction between physical powers
and mental abilities. It may be that this difference is merely one between
prototaxic (somatic abilities), such as skin-reaction, and syntaxic (cognitive)
abilities, such as verbal intelligence. The process of claiming regnancy
over the latent exotic factors of intellect may merely reduce to the ability
to pay more conscious attention (and hence develop control) over natural
physiological powers.
The concept that not all knowledge is gathered from the senses is at
least as old as Plotinus and forms the basis of most mystical belief as
well as transcendentalism, as witness Ellis (Miller 1957:23):
That belief we term Transcendentalism .... maintains that man has ideas that come not through the five senses or the powers of reasoning, but are either the result of direct revelation from God, his immediate inspiration, or his immanent presence....Wilber (1977) quotes Kahn as follows:
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The mental functioning which expresses itself as 'logical reasoning' on the gross plane of consciousness has other plane-specific manifestations on the other 'inner' planes of consciousness. Specifically, the cognitive power of logic is described as the gross plane expression of the cognitive power which in the inner planes is referred to hierarchically as intuition, inspiration, illumination, and enlightenment.Powell (1965:222) in a chapter on the subject declares:
Psychic powers can be developed by anyone ... Astral senses exist in all men, but are latent in most and, generally, need to be artificially forced, if they are to be used in the present state of evolution.He declares that their possession does not necessarily mean high moral character and counsels against the dangers inherent in a premature development.
Dr. Mary Meeker, protege of Prof. Guilford and eminent explicator of
the Structure of Intellect theory of intelligence, wrote to the
author in a private communication (Sept. 12, 1979) as follows:
No, I do not believe, and this is only hypothetical, that precognitive, aura seeing, or other non documented metaphysical abilities are in the figural abilities dimensions.Meeker concludes (from an unpublished article on Psychic Children):My thought is that clairvoyance is heightened visual cognition, that clairaudience is heightened auditory cognition - that these metaphysical abilities are actual cognition abilities developed beyond that which most of us enjoy. In other words, the cognition (which I label as receptive intelligence) is better developed and more finely tuned, gifted cognition abilities.
Thus the heightened sensitivity in awareness either auditory (clairaudient) or visual (clairvoyant) may be a second level in the spiral of intelligence in which the circle starting with cognition, memory, evaluation, convergent production and divergent production, further enhance the ability to cognize at a more keen level.That respectable scientists are reluctantly coming to new
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and open-ended conclusions regarding the incipient powers of man's mind is evident in this Brain/Mind Bulletin (July 3, 1978) report of remarks by the eminent psychologist Carl Rogers at a Los Angeles convention:
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Perhaps our more primitive capabilities, our largely unused right brain, is beginning to function again, as it so often does in the so-called less-civilized societies. Perhaps this metaphoric mind can come to know a universe that is non-linear, in which the terms time and space come to have very different meanings.Here I'm going to limit myself to my own observations and experiences. I have no explanation for which I shall describe - I simply know that I have observed at first hand, and experienced myself, phenomena I cannot explain on a rational basis or in terms of the scientific laws that I know. A few years ago I would have scoffed at the possibility of any such phenomena, but I can't quite deny the evidence of my senses.
I have observed incidents among friends of mine [that] can only be described as telepathic communication. This makes me ready to believe the scientist John Lilly, who tells of his experiences in such communication which came about quite unexpectedly. I've had some experience with clairvoyants.
How can we account for such experiences and many others like them that have been reported? Are there unknown waves in the atmosphere through which visual and psychological messages can be sent and received? I don't know. Even more mysterious to me is precognition...
I've also been forced to reconsider the possibility of reincarnation, which in the past I'll admit I thought was a ridiculous belief.
I don't know how this world of the paranormal may change us, but I believe we are perhaps opening up vast new fields of knowledge and power, a quantum leap. And every time new forces or energies have been discovered in our universe, they have changed our perception of reality and have opened new doors and new opportunities for the human being. It seems possible that this is in the process of occurring again.
Contrary to the belief of many, this expanding discovery of the psychic world is in no way anti-scientific. In the most
basic of sciences, physics, creative discoveries are taking us closer and closer to a mystic view of life, to a recognition that the more we know, the nearer our thinking is to that of the ancient sages.
In a similar vein Orme-Johnson and Farrow (1977:703) say:
After the TM-Sidhi practices, many areas of consciousness are found to be open that were previously not available to awareness. With regular practice there arises a natural tendency for desires to meet spontaneous fulfillment from nature, a growth of ability to anticipate events, an improvement in intuition and a striking degree of harmony with the surroundings. This is amply illustrated by the study of intelligence, creativity, field independence, and behavioral flexibility by Orme-Johnson and Granieri (paper 103). In this study intelligence and creativity were found to be initially high and to increase even further during the course. In the case of field independence, students were able to complete the tests at as much as 200% of the speed the tests were designed for, necessitating major adjustments to prevent a 'ceiling effect.' It should be remembered that these tests, although well-validated, measure only a fraction of the individual's true abilities, and hardly do justice to the enormous potential offered by the state of enlightenment. At the same time they amply demonstrate the degree to which human potential has been underestimated in the past.
2.1) Animal Senses and Their Refinement
In primitive forms of an evolving organism, sensual levels so low as to be virtually non-existent, may become, because of adaptation due to survival value, developed into more and more acute receptors.
Let us, therefore, note a few examples: first of animals which have evolved far more acute forms of one of the five senses than humans possess, and then of animals which have evolved other senses. Most of these are drawn from the Jonas and Jonas book, Other Senses, Other Worlds (1976).
A German sheep-dog's nose is one million times more acute than a human's (Jonas and Jonas 1976:23); it has 44 times as many olfactory-sensory brain cells. A moth's ability in this area is a million times more acute than a dog's: "A male moth can smell the
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-sex scent signal of a female of its own kind as far away as 20 kilometers." ibid:24)
A bee's complex eye polarizes light, and the bee can remember its own path as well as calculate "the angular velocity and celestial path of the sun from moment to moment, even on a cloudy day." (ibid:63) This ability enables the bee not only to locate honey sources and return straight to the hive, but even to tell other bees about the source.
The aural powers of the dolphin are awesome. It apparently can carry
on two conversations at once, as different halves of the brain pick up
different signals on different frequencies, but can also receive information
about food and even texture by analysis of sound vibrations (ibid:
122,130). Dolphins are not the only creatures possessing unusual sound
discrimination. Bats can discriminate between sonic pulses separated by
as little as .001 second (ibid: 132). Each bat seems to emit its
own frequency, and bats can avoid objects in the dark by sonic radar, and
can locate the source of sound by moving the ears up to 60 times per second
(ibid: 133).
Jonas and Jonas report (ibid: 122):
The remarkable thing about the large cetacean brain is that its two hemispheres often work separately, and what is more, rest separately. When a dolphin sleeps one of its eyes is always open and alert, as is the brain hemisphere to which it reports."
Again, on the remarkable sensing abilities of fish (ibid:97):
Lateral organs of electric fish react to a drop on voltage of .03 millionth
of volt per cm (comparable to an eye which can see a single quantum of
light).
Some fish, notably the sole, respond to temperature changes in the water of as little as .03C. ". . . a fish could be trained to recognize a specific temperature, say 580F within 1 dg. of accuracy, irrespective of whether the fish came from a warmer or colder environment." The Australian bush turkey maintains the heat of its eggs at a constant temperature of 330C: "The bird was so sensitive to heat differences that its tongue was within a . 1 degree of thermometer accuracy." (ibid:159) Jonas and Jonas (ibid: 129-30) describe echo-location, a property in some animals which
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enables sounds to be felt as vibration in the bones, and then to be
noted directionally. In this connection Hitching (1978:148) says:
It has long been apparent that some creatures have additional ways of communicating with one another and of perceiving information. The biologist Juan Bigu del Blanco, working at Queen's University in Kingston, Ontario, Canada, says that among the more striking and unusual methods are 'sonar techniques (bats, etc.), electric field scanning and sensing (certain fish), temperature scanning (some snakes), sensing by means of chemicals (silkworms), sensing by movement or ritualization (monkeys, bees, etc.). There are a variety of different known methods of communication, but there are also a great number of cases in which the information transfer mechanism is far from being clear.'Tromp (1949:6) in a scholarly examination of bioluminescence in lower animals concludes that the radiation:
.... is mainly due to luciferous bacteria. In the first group the radiation is bound to certain organs of the body, it is subject to the will-power of the organism and depends on the presence of free oxygen. However, the radiation is not a function of life only, as the light organs of certain insects, when made wet, can radiate a long time after death.(page 59)Due to the studies of Radzizewsky a.o., we know that many organic compounds occurring in living organisms, such as fats, lecithin, cholesterin, essential oils, gallic acid, glucose, etc., radiate in alkaline solutions under certain conditions at normal or slightly increased temperature if they are exposed to free oxygen (particularly if they are shaken). This explains why many marine organisms only radiate in a strong surf.
DuBois was able to isolate two protein substances, luciferin and luciferase, which when together produce light, a process responsible for light phenomena in several insects and molluscs.
A. EXAMPLES OF LUCIFEROUS ANIMALS
A few striking examples are the following:
Luciferous trails of certain millipedes;
luciferous water round the Ostracod crab pyrocypris;
pholas dactylus, a stone borer, that radiates light when two substances are brought together: a crystalline substance luciferin) and a ferment (luciferase);
red light radiated by the rib-jelly fish (salpen and cleodora);
lilac light radiated by certain corals (gorgonides);
purple light radiated by fulgora pyrorhynchus;
a tunicate, appendicularia, that radiates red light which changes into blue and finally into green;
different insects, such as fire-flies (luciola, diaphanes, pyrocoelia and lamprophorus) that radiate light which is mostly connected with the sexual functions of those insects (in case of the European glow-worm, the non-flying female radiates a much stronger light than the flying male).Many deep sea fish possess complicated organs in the head or other places of the body, which radiate light of different wave length. Of approximately 1,000 species of deep sea bone fish, about a ninth possess light organs which attract prey and perhaps also serve for recognizing each other, particularly during the periods of procreation. For example, thaumatolampas possesses light organs that radiate blue, red, and white light. The starfish brisinga does not possess a light organ but secretes a radiating slime that covers the whole body.
Certain fish are able to create such strong electrical potentials that they cause unconsciousness in animals or man who swim in their neighborhood. Examples are gymnotus electricus (the electric eel), which develops electrical potentials of up to 800 V, the electric ray fish (Torpedo Occidentalis), torpedo marmorata, malopterurus, etc.
Jonas and Jonas (1976:150) tell us that the heat perception of a
snake operates on the principle of an infrared camera. Each membrane contains
150,000 nerve cells sensitive to heat in an area where a human would have
only a few. Like a camera it gives an outline image of a creature that
may be only a fraction of one degree C warmer than its environment.
The electric powers of some animals are phenomenal. We still do not understand fully the photoluminescence of some fireflies and fishes. Coe (Gaddis 1967:175) studied the electrical powers of marine life (see Scientific American, March 1963), including some electric eels which can produce charges up to 600 volts.
Another striking ability of some birds, notably homing pigeons' , and other migrating fowl, as well as some aquatic mammals, is the magnetic homing sense, also found in bees (Jonas and Jonas, 1976:152).
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An excellent discussion of the taste world of animals, also different from ours, will be found in Science 201:224, 21 July, 1978. In it V. G. Dethier points out that there are many dimensions of taste open to animals which we may not perceive.
Animals sensitive to the ultra-violet spectrum may perceive a different
world than we do (just as dogs can hear high-frequency whistles to which
we are deaf). Jonas and Jonas 1976:165 say:
We have already given a small indication of these possibilities: bees, for instance, are aware of a different portion of the spectrum from that visible to us, so that to them the 'reality' of the world is completely different from our 'reality.' We have also discussed how the dog's world is a world of odors utterly unlike anything we know. The bee's nervous system, of course, limited by its small size, cannot approach ours in integrative capacity; so as an individual, if not as a group, its capacities are restricted. The dog's limitations lie in its lack of hands. But these examples do give an idea of the 'other worlds' revealed by an extension of familiar senses.Tromp (1949:103) discusses some remarkable senses of dogs:
1) Experiments by Kalischer demonstrated that a dog can differentiate between certain odors, which a man is unable to do; e.g., iso-valeric acid (a fatty acid probably occurring in the aroma of a human being) can be distinguished in a mixture with other fatty acids.2) Experiment of Buytendijk indicated that a dog can smell iodoform in concentrations of 10-6. Quinine and ordinary salt (NaCl), scentless to man, can be smelt by dogs, even in concentrations of 10-4.
3) Experiments of Heitzenroeder and Seffrin indicated that under normal conditions dogs are not very sensitive to odors of flowers, but exceed the sensitivity of man in the case of animal odors (smell of meat, etc.). Later experiments of Henning, however, showed that this is only the result of lack of canine interest in the scent of flowers. After a previous training it was found that dogs and man are about equally sensitive to vegetable odors.
4) A similar example of specific sensitivity is indicated by the experiments of Romanes. His dog was able to follow his track, although his shoes were greased with oil of anise and 12 people had walked one after the other exactly on
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the same track before the experiment started. Tracks of a stranger could not be followed.
This brief and by no means complete catalog of some of the sensory
specializations of animals indicates conclusively that when evolution has
developed the proper receptors, animals can extend their sensory powers
to degrees almost unbelievable. This introduction, therefore, may serve
as a caution that we should not be surprised about the presence of similar
powers in human beings.
2.2) A Taxonomy of Exotic Powers and Abilities
Our introduction on the phylogenic abilities of other species has been useful in showing the astonishing range of sensory abilities possessed by creatures lower than mankind in the evolutionary order. It is now time to present our taxonomy of exotic powers and abilities of mankind, which is displayed in Table 2.1. The phylogenic abilities of mankind, perhaps best represented by the Guilford Structure of Intellect Model, are ruled out of consideration by the adjective "exotic" so no more will be said about them. Instead, in the remainder of this chapter, we shall discuss ontogenic abilities, in both sensory powers and mental abilities. There are, it will be remembered, by definition, extraordinary abilities possessed by some human beings which are nevertheless seen as explainable by presently understood natural law (whereas cosmogenic are not). There is admittedly a very thin line of distinction here, but as a practical rule of thumb on where to place things, it should be possible for a positivistic materialist to read this chapter without exclaiming "humbug!", whereas the contrary is true of the next.
As one inspects the taxonomy, which is admittedly a first step in an area never before categorized in such a form, it is very possible to disagree with the author on the relative position of the powers and abilities. Indeed, the writer stipulates that much of it is arbitrary. (The numbers in parentheses are Patanjali sutra numbers, about which more will be said in the next chapter on the cosmogenic abilities).
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TABLE 2-1 TAXONOMY OF EXOTIC POWERS AND ABILITIES
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Three classes of abilities are readily distinguishable, which will be henceforth called: 1) the phylogenic, 2) the ontogenic, and 3) the cosmogenic.
The phylogenic is defined as an exotic ability inherent in the species or in the genetic ancestry, so that it is possessed to a remarkable degree (according to our view) by every member. (Note that most of the abilities of mankind would be considered in this category if viewed by another species; no species would view its own phylogenic abilities as extraordinary.) We may also regard phylogenic abilities manifested by lower evolutionary types which have specialized in different ways than mankind. The separate hemisphere activity of dolphins, the thermal pits of snakes, the temperature sensitivity of fish, the polarization of the bee's eye, and the magnetic sensitivity of migrating birds are all examples.
The ontogenic is defined as an exotic ability possessed by only a very few individuals in a species, which appears to have been due to genetic endowment or mutation and enhanced by individual effort. We may also regard ontogenic abilities as part of present evolution, moving in a transverse direction to evolutionary development of the species and, hence, which are not likely to become more common in an ascending evolutionary future. Furthermore, the explanation for such abilities does not require any modification in the present laws of physics: an example of this type of ability would be an idiot-savant.
The cosmogenic2 is defined as an exotic ability occurring ephemerally, unmerited or predicted by genetics or ordinary development. Representing possible future evolution of the race, it may or may not be manifested even in rare and unusual individuals, but may be postulated to occur at certain higher levels of development. Furthermore, its explanation requires modifications of our present understanding of the laws of physics. Examples of such abilities would be levitation and precognition, as well as other paranormal abilities (the siddhis).
It thus follows that the exotic powers of man's mind are but higher levels (or overtones) of ordinary powers, and that we can redefine phylogenic, ontogenic, and cosmogenic abilities as those powers which have been, are being, and will be "granted" to mankind, or to put it the other way, as levels which have been, are being, and will be reached by mankind.
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If any living system is to be conscious of any given vivency, it must possess receptor organs registering in that vivency, i.e., sense modalities. This sensorium may vary as to kind and as to acuity, and we must be on guard not to presuppose that they must be sight, sound, touch, smell, and taste and of the degree of acuity with which we humans are familiar.
What causes the unfoldment of latent powers? We have put the question as if they were developmental, naturally occurring at the reaching of some higher stage. But there are at least three other explanations. One is that of reincarnation, wherein such powers were exercised in a former life; another is that of siddhis training, whereby through a certain yogic procedure, the power is obtained. A third is that in the removal of personal static, the receiving capacity of the radio set (as it were) becomes improved and so distant stations are heard. Happold (1970:69) says: "In the study of contemplation, we are considering a movement of consciousness towards a higher level, as the result of the emergence and cultivation of powers which in most men and women remain latent."
It is certain that most of these exotic powers, sometimes including the siddhis, come spontaneously to those rare souls in the higher reaches of developmental progress. The fact that many Christian saints have exhibited these powers indicates that specific Hindu yogic training is not a necessary condition for them. The siddhis training, however, may encourage the more rapid access of the powers or of the developmental level which gives free access to them.
2.3) The Etheric Body
The physical body seems to be a vehicle with sensory orifices which
supports the five physical senses. It appears operationally useful to posit
the existence of an etheric (or astral) body which supports the function
of non-physical (paranormal) senses. Interestingly enough, this paradigm
of the etheric or astral body is well known as an article of belief in
the East. Reserving the concept that this construct is merely a useful
paradigm, we require here a summary statement of this belief, in order
that later discussion may be facilitated.
Wilson (1971:544) quotes Payne:
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In Man's Latent Powers, Phoebe Payne describes man's 'etheric body' as follows: 'This body of subtle physical material acts as the vehicle for the circulation of human vitality, and is an infinitely delicate bridge between the psychic worlds and the Physical brain consciousness ... It is the special qualities of this body . . . which constitute the main difference between the psychic and the non-psychic person. The etheric counterpart interpenetrates the whole of the physical anatomy, corresponding to it cell for cell, and also extends beyond it to a distance of four to six inches according to the nature and health of the individual. This outlying portion is called the health aura. It is visible to ordinary sight under favourable conditions of lighting.... Many people can catch a glimpse of it in a half light by bringing the fingertips of the two hands near together and slowly drawing them apart, when a nebulous emanation can be sensed or seen flowing from one hand to the other ... This duplicate subtle body appears often as a fine filmy mesh completely surrounding the ordinary physical body, mainly grey in colour. To trained clairvoyant sight it is an intricate structure of delicate hues. "
According to the occultists, the etheric body or double contains
seven chakra centers, which when opened give various powers. In upward
order (which is the path of development), they are:
1) base of spine, seat of kundalini power
2) navel, feeling
3) spleen, travelling
4) heart, understanding
5) throat, clairaudience
6) between eyebrows, clairvoyance
7) top of the head, continuity of cosmic consciousness.
It should be emphasized that these chakra centers are believed to
be in the etheric, not the physical body, and to be the basis for acupuncture
points; moreover, each chakra has a characteristic color associated with
it.
From the etheric body issues an energy, known as prana. This energy (also known as od or orgone) is discussed more thoroughly in section 3.5. The energy is apparently the basis for ectoplasm which is the operator in physical mediumship (to be discussed in section 3.1). The usefulness of prana and ectoplasm (its product) in explaining various psychic effects is the main reason for our adoption of the etheric body construct.
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In speaking about the interaction between the etheric and the physical levels, Tiller (White 1974:267) says:
To use a mathematical simile, we have the same difference here as between a function and its differential. There will be further discussion of this important principle in the 4.6 section on orthocognitive healing and in Chapter VIII.
It is really at the point of mind that one can bring about in the organization of structure in these various levels of substance. That is, through mind forces, one can create a pattern, and that pattern then acts as a force field that applies to the next level of substance .... These etheric forces, then bring about .... the organization of matter at the physical level.
Further on the nature of the astral level, Tiller (White 1974: 268)
declares:
The astral function is largely as a containment vehicle to keep the human essence in a compact form between incarnations. ... In the case of the physical, we have a space-time frame which we know a great deal about. The etheric level is a companion level, but it operates in a different space-time frame from the physical .... That is, for the physical, as time goes on, the potential decreases and the entropy increases; whereas for the etheric, we have the reverse situation....
2.4) Non-Paranormal Human Oddities
In this section we pay brief and incomplete notice to various reports of extraordinary human powers, which while very unusual, and hardly explainable, were not regarded as supernatural either by the possessor or by those who witnessed the abilities.
In this respect, Jonas and Jonas (1976:165) conclude:
If we extend this concept and assume that any and every sense we are aware of probably has a range beyond our present comprehension both in extent and in intensity, we can see opening up before us further uncharted sense-domains for the exercise of our imaginations. Sight, for instance, raised to a greater power, might include not only keener sight but also the ability to see other things - things that are too small to be seen by our eyes, things that travel too fast, or things that are too transparent or too opaque to be registered by our senses.(page 68)
Gaddis (1967:166) notes studies which show that Eskimos can hold metal objects in hand for several seconds, while the flesh of soldiers freezes immediately. He also notes the ability of Bedouins to live in extreme heat and of peoples in the Andes and Himalayas to live at heights where oxygen is only about half our requirements.
There flourished on the island of Mauritius about the time of the American
Revolution a man named Bottineau, known as the wizard of Mauritius because
he had discovered and practiced the art of "a nauscopie," namely the discovering
of ships, still below the horizon, by means of the effect which their motion
produced upon the visible atmosphere near the the horizon. In this way
he was able to discover and predict the arrival of vessels several hundred
miles from landfall. The records show that from 1778 to 1782 he preannounced
the arrival of 575 vessels, many four days before they came up on the horizon.
The testimony to his accuracy is voluminous and irrefutable. Here in his
own words is the explanation (Gould 1965:173ff):
Nauscopie is the art of ascertaining the approach of vessels ... at a great distance. The knowledge neither results from an undulation of the waves, nor from quick sight, nor from a particular sensation, but simply from observing the horizon which bears upon it certain signs indicative of the approach of vessels .... When a vessel approaches land, a meteor (in French, an atmospheric effect) appears in the atmosphere of a particular nature, visible to every eye, without any difficult effort.
The advantages of this art before the days of the wireless, and
particularly during wartime can only be imagined. It is likewise interesting
to note that Gould reports (p. 193) that in 1818 one of Bottineau's pupils
still practiced the art on Mauritius.
The electrical wizard, Nicola Tesla, had a number of very strange powers,
particularly those of visualization, sight, and hearing. In regard to these
exotic powers, his biographers, Hunt and Draper (1977:20, 32, 124) say:
He was conscious of certain phenomena before his eyes which others could not see. He envisioned objects and hypotheses with such reality and clarity that he was uncertain whether they did or did not exist ...
He always admitted that he had supersensitive sight and hearing . . . He could remember as a boy discerning objects at a distance when no one else could see them, and he recalled hearing faint crackling sounds of fire in neighbor's houses when the residents had not even been disturbed in their sleep. He became tortured with a radar-sensitivity similar to that of bats which made him conscious of objects 12 feet away in total darkness.
His hearing was so phenomenally keen that it wasn't remarkable for him to detect thunder-claps at a distance of 550 miles.
The most extraordinary "normal," (that is, non-paranormal), abilities
appear in mathematics and music. Interestingly enough the geniuses who
present them are almost always precocious. We tend to think of these displays
as within currently accepted science, since mathematics and music are ancient
arts which are amenable to scientific inquiry, though we really have no
detailed understanding as to how these seemingly miraculous feats are accomplished.3
Here is an effort by Hunter to investigate a rather common prodigy,
namely lightning calculation, (Hunter 1968:346):
Throughout history, there have been reports of people with exceptional ability in mental calculation. What can be learned from these reports? Perhaps the most striking thing is that they concern such a diversity of people with such widely different accomplishments. There are reports of young children, of gifted mathematicians such as Gauss and Ampere, of illiterates, and of people who are almost mentally defective. Some of those people solve a wide range of numerical problems by highly ingenious procedures and with great rapidity; others are specialists who excel only in some limited range of problems; others tackle only fairly simple problems by slow and conventional techniques, and are remarkable merely for their willingness to work without external aids; others show modest calculative accomplishments which would be unremarkable except for the person's lack of ability in any other direction. Even among those with moderately high calculative ability, there is diversity. Some rely heavily on visual imaging, some on auditory imaging, and some use little imaging of any kind. They also vary in their characteristic speed of working and in their techniques. For example, at the end of the last
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century, the French psychologist Binet examined two men who had some renown as mental calculators. He gave each of them the same problems, written on paper, and required them to write the answer but nothing else. One problem was: multiply 58,927 by 61,408. One calculator (Inaudi) completed the answer in 40 seconds, the other (Diamandi) in 275 seconds; and I have recently met a professional accountant who completed this problem in 55 seconds. Inaudi produced the digits of his answer in the left-to-right order, whereas Diamandi produced these digits in the right-to-left order; my accountant also produced the digits in right-to-left order, but he used a calculative plan quite different from that used either by Inaudi or by Diamandi. Different calculators clearly have very different calculative systems.
Here are some representative examples from Corliss (1976) quoting
other sources: (cf Scripture, 1891)
Thomas Fuller, known as the Virginia Calculator, was stolen from his native Africa at the age of fourteen and sold to a planter. When he was about seventy years old, "two gentlemen, natives of Pennsylvania, viz., William Hartshorne and Samuel Coates, men of probity and respectable characters, having heard, in traveling through the neighborhood in which the slave lived, of his extraordinary powers in arithmetic, sent for him and had their curiosity sufficiently gratified by the answers which he gave to the following questions: First, upon being asked how many seconds there were in a year and a half, he answered in about two minutes, 47,304,000. Second: On being asked how many seconds a man has lived who is 70 years, 17 days and 12 hours old, he answered in a minute and a half 2,210,500,800. One of the gentlemen who employed himself with his pen in making these calculations told him he was wrong, and that the sum was not so great as he had said - upon which the old man hastily replied: 'top, massa, you forget de leap year.' On adding the amount of the seconds of the leap year the amount of the whole in both their sums agreed exactly."
Jedediah Buxton. - Jedediah Buxton was born in 1702, at Elmton, in Derbyshire, England, where he died in 1772. Although his father was schoolmaster of the parish and his grandfather had been the vicar, his education was by some chance so neglected that he was not able to scrawl his own name. All his attainments were the result of his own pure industry; the only help he had was the learning of the multi-
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plication table in his youth; 'his mind was only stored with a few constants which facilitated his calculations; such as the number of minutes in a year, and of hair's-breadths in a mile.' He labored hard with his spade to support a family, but seems to have shown not even usual intelligence in regard to ordinary matters of life. The testimony as to his arithmetical powers is given by two witnesses. George Saxe says: 'I proposed to him the following random question: In a body whose three sides are 23,145,789 yards, 5,642,732 yards, and 54,965 yards, how many cubical 1/8ths of an inch? After once naming the several figures distinctly, one after another, in order to assure himself of the several dimensions and fix them in his mind, without more ado he fell to work amidst more than 100 of his fellow-laborers, and after leaving him about five hours, on some necessary concerns (in which time I calculated it with my pen) at my return, he told me he was ready: Upon which, taking out my pocket-book and pencil, to note down his answer, he asked which end I would begin at, for he would direct me either way ... I chose the regular method . . . and in a line of twenty-eight figures, he made no hesitation nor the least mistake."Paranormal gifts may be distributed in exactly the same manner to humans as less exotic mental gifts, according to Elliot (Hitchings (1967:67), who says:
General Scott Elliot, the former president of the British Society of Dowsers, thinks that dowsing may be not much different from the distribution of other gifts in a community, with a handful who are geniuses, a handful who are backward, and the rest of us capable of improvement with teaching and practice. 'We can't all be Michelangelo,' he says, 'and a few of us are unlucky enough to be colorblind or unable to see at all; most of us see things with varying degrees of perception. Similarly with music, or sport, or any other art. We can't all be composers or record-breakers, but we can get better if we try. I see no reason to place dowsing in a different dimension from other human skills which we don't fully understand.'
2.5) Developmental Aspects in the Phenotype and Genotype
Since exotic factors of intellect are generally found in unusual people, and since unusual people often represent racial sports or forerunners, the sport or mutation of ability which is found in them may represent the future course or direction of
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evolution in the race as a whole. Hence the high aptitude person or genius may mirror in his individual development the racial developmental process in the phenotype.
We developed this theme (with appropriate tables) in section 6c of the Introduction, and we are elsewhere earlier on record in regard to it, (Gowan, 1972, 1974). We return to a brief discussion of it here, and we will later in chapter V discuss some of the aspects of such development, particularly as it applies to genius and precocity.
An excellent discussion of the subject will be found in Wilber (1978, 1979).
That man's latent abilities lie in a gradated series of steps is obvious
to Wilson (11971:542):
It is as if human evolution is not an uphill slope, but something like a steep flight of steps. As Shaw points out in the Methuselah preface, evolution does not progress steadily, but by sudden leaps. If you are learning to ride a bicycle, you fall off fifty times, and then find yourself suddenly riding it the fifty-first time. As if each time you tried to ride it, you accumulated a little more skill which did not show immediately but went into a 'reserve supply,' until you are ready to go 'up the next step' on the stairway. The significance of this must be discussed later in the chapter, but one point can be made immediately. If we can tumble down the evolutionary stairway through boredom and defeat-proneness, we can also clamber up to new levels by a gentle, cumulative effort; no frenzied leap is required. And evidence indicates unmistakably that these higher levels are the levels upon which man's 'latent powers' cease to be latent.
In the conclusion of her book on mysticism, Underhill, (1960:444ff),
avers that the mystic is the ontogenic earnest of phylogenic escalation
in the species. The path he treads today is a gradated series of upward
steps which all will someday follow, as they actualize their latent abilities:
It shows us, upon high levels, the psychological process to which every self which desires to rise to the perception of Reality must submit: the formula under which man's spiritual consciousness, be it strong or weak, must necessarily unfold.(page 73)
In the great mystics we see the highest and widest development of that consciousness to which the human race has yet attained. We see its growth exhibited to us on a grand scale, perceptible of all men: the stages of its slow transcendence of the sense-world marked by episodes of splendour and of terror which are hard for common men to accept or understand as a part of the organic process of life. But the germ of that same transcendent life, the spring of the amazing energy which enables the great mystic to rise to freedom and dominate his world, is latent in all of us; an integral part of our humanity. Where the mystic has a genius for the Absolute, we have each a little buried talent, some greater, some less; and the growth of this talent, this spark of the soul, once we permit its emergence, will conform in little, and according to its measure, to those laws of organic growth, those inexorable conditions of transcendence which we found to govern the Mystic Way.(page 74)Every person, then, who awakens to consciousness of a Reality which transcends the normal world of sense - however small, weak, imperfect that consciousness may be - is put upon a road which follows at low levels the path which the mystic treads at high levels. The success with which he follows this way to freedom and full life will depend on the intensity of his love and will; his capacity for self-discipline, his steadfastness and courage. It will depend on the generosity and completeness of his outgoing passion for absolute beauty, absolute goodness, or absolute truth. But if he move at all, he will move through a series of states which are, in their own small way, analogous to those experienced by the greatest contemplative on his journey towards that union with God which is the term of the spirit's ascent towards its home.
We are, then, one and all the kindred of the mystics; and it is by dwelling upon this kinship, by interpreting - so far as we may - their great declarations in the light of our little experience, that we shall learn to understand them best. Strange and far away though they seem, they are not cut off from us by some impassable abyss. They belong to us. They are our brethren; the giants, the heroes of our race. As the achievement of genius belongs not to itself only, but also to the society that brought it forth; as theology declares that the merits of the saints avail for all; so, because of the solidarity of the human family, the supernal accomplishment
of the mystics is ours also. Their attainment is the earnest money of our eternal life.
1 Science 205:1027-9 (1979) reports Walcott's discovery of magnetite, a magnetic substance in pigeon brains.
2 For our word "cosmogenic" Arieti (1967:5-6) uses the word "microgenic" following Weber, because of the instantaneous aspect. In this he is followed by Wilber (1978:53), who quotes him, and expands upon this characteristic.
3 For testimony from mathematicians and musicians, see chapter
V, (5.1).