Science and the Supernatural

The universe is a strange and interesting
place. Moreover, our immediate world and the greater universe is still a
place where human science can be utterly confounded.

Science, in its pure form, is
chiefly concerned with what is observable, testable, and repeatable. It is
restricted in that sense to the physical study of physical matter. But “pure
science,” both in the past and present, has often had its fingers in another
pie: metaphysics, the philosophical inquiry into the basis of reality –
i.e., religion (it could be argued that all science has some metaphysical
foundation, however, many secular humanists say that “pure science” operates
independent of metaphysics; a debate that this article cannot rightly
explore). What’s more, science has become increasingly interested in
exploring the possibilities of tapping into the supernatural.

Take for instance a published
report by Eric Davis of Warp Drive Metrics. This report, titled Teleportation Physics Study,
was produced and paid for by the US Air Force Research Laboratory at Edwards
Air Force Base (contract number F04611-99-C-0025, public release date August
2004). …

Outlining this strange
occurrence, Davis explained that Uri Geller, a well-known psychic, was able
to bend a spoon without physically touching it during a talk he gave at the
US Capital building. Furthermore, Davis elaborated on the deep interest that
the US military/scientific and intelligence community has had, and continues
to have, in the field of occult sciences – particularly remote viewing.

Remote viewing, which includes
and combines elements of clairvoyance (seeing things in the future) and
out-of-body experiences, has been especially intriguing to the intelligence
community. For decades, a multitude of governmental agencies and corporate
laboratories have been involved in remote viewing programs. Davis, laying
out the historical context for military-scientific study within this field,
explained the following,

“The reader should note
that the very first U.S. military-intelligence R&D programs on psi, PK
and mind control were conducted by H.K. (Andrija) Puharich, M.D., L.L.D
during his military service at the Army Chemical and Biological Warfare
Center at Fort Detrick, Maryland in the 1940s-50s. Puharich had an
interest in clairvoyance and PK, and dabbled in theories for
electronically and pharmaceutically enhancing and synthesizing psychic
abilities. While in the Army, Puharich took part in a variety of
parapsychology experiments, and he lectured Army, Air Force and Navy
groups on possibilities for mind warfare. He was a recognized expert in
hypnotism and microelectronics.” (

Teleportation
Physics Study, p.
55)

This is an amazing admittance.
Already in the mid-point of the last century, the defense and intelligence
community was involved in psychic and occult exploration, including
clairvoyance – and had coupled this theoretical research with mind-bending
drugs and electronic stimuli.

In the year 2000, W. Adam
Mandelbaum, a former intelligence officer and practicing psychic, laid out a
frightening futuristic scenario in his controversial book

The Psychic Battlefield: A History of
the Military-Occult Complex
(St. Martin’s Press, 2000).

“Besides an end to privacy and
manipulation of financial markets, a cadre of highly developed psychic
warriors might start to think of themselves as a new Master Race. We have
seen, in Eastern Bloc Olympic training, the widespread use of suggestion,
imagery, and mental rehearsal to enhance sports performance. We will
probably see this trend continue in the military of the third millennium to
create Super Soldiers…The conscious creation of a superior military force
will result in those participants becoming consciously aware of their
superiority. Add ego to weapons access, mix with superior psychic spying
skills, and Voila! we have a new SS that makes Himmler’s boys look like the
Cub Scouts.” (The
Psychic Battlefield, p.
235).

But the military and defense
communities, including that of Russia and China, are not the only areas
where science and the supernatural have combined. Psychic activity has also
been used in the fields of archeology and criminology. Of these two, the use
of psychics in criminology is probably the most widely known, fueled in
large part by various television programs and publications that have
highlighted the apparent successes and failures of criminal-clairvoyant
investigations.

The use of occult powers in the
field of archeology, however, is relatively unknown. Hans Holzer, one of the
most prolific writers on parapsychology and spiritualism, detailed a number
of psychic archeological experiments in his book

Window to the Past.
Through the use of mediums and the employment of such practices as
telepathy, individuals were able to pinpoint archeological sites and
document important historical events. Holzer, elaborating on the
pseudo-science of psychic archeology, explained that,

“The expressions of mediums, no
matter how genuine and detailed, nevertheless do not represent scientific
fact in the accepted sense, but they can lead to investigations in areas
where scientists might not have looked. If such follow-ups are undertaken
free from all prejudice and preconceived notions, psychic clues can be among
the most valuable tools of historical research.” (Window
to the Past, p. 94)

Reincarnation, psychic healing,
the development of super-consciousness, exceptional precognition,
out-of-body experiences, remote viewing, and a host of other topics which
dance along the razor’s edge of supernaturalism and occultism have all been
topics of scientific thought and study.

Furthermore, scientific inquiry
into psychic phenomena is often rooted in basic scientific orthodoxy, taking
on aspects of repeatability, testability, and observation. However, this
doesn’t negate its supernatural side, nor does it elevate psychic research
into the echelons of hard science…. To the
skeptical “scientific mind,” however, the notion that this pseudo-science
trespasses into the foggy world of occultism or supernaturalism is rarely
accepted as a serious option.

But theology and human history
says otherwise. From an historical and contemporary context, mankind has
embraced occultism in an attempt to harness and utilize supernatural powers
for individual gain – sometimes setting in motion forces that have destroyed
both body and mind in the process. Worse still, history is rife with
civilizations that have followed occult-based ideologies and philosophies,
with death and destruction in close pursuit (Nazi Germany comes to mind; see

The Occult Roots of Nazism by
Goodrick-Clarke, and the 4-part video series The Occult History of the
Third Reich).

Not ironically, noted
occultist
and “mother” of the New Age,
Helena P. Blavatsky, warned against the dangers
of supernatural/occult powers as a military/criminal device. The following
was originally published in

Lucifer magazine, 1891, and was
re-published in a collection of Blavatsky’s writings titled Studies in
Occultism.

“…if purely material implements
are capable of blowing up, from a few corners, the great cities of the
globe, providing the murderous weapons are guided by expert hands – what
terrible dangers might not arise from magical occult secrets being revealed,
and allowed to fall into the possession of ill-meaning people! A thousand
times more dangerous and lethal are these, because neither the criminal
hand, nor the immaterial invisible weapon used, can ever be detected.” (Studies
in Occultism, pp.28-29).

Blavatsky then suggests that
the occultist must “live the life” in order to properly handle the potency
of supernatural powers. This is a twisted position, for the practitioner is
obviously dealing with forces that go beyond the human capacity to
understand or control. In other words, the individual is not “playing with
the occult,” rather the supernatural is toying with the practitioner. This
is evidenced through personal lives impacted by supernatural bondage,
including insanity (see Tal Brooke,

Riders of the Cosmic Circuit,
1986, and Elissa Lindsey McClain, Rest from the Quest,
1984).

At the societal level,
occultism can add upon an underlying destructive worldview or become the
foundation for a culture of terror. The German Nazi movement blended myth
and occultism, pseudoscience and technology. And it’s no surprise to learn
that it’s pan-pagan roots were firmly planted in the soil of Blavatsky’s
teachings…