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The Conditionalist Faith of Our Fathers, vol. 2 - Contents
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    II. Parapsychology Projects “New Frontiers” in Spirit World

    A whole new vocabulary has been developed within the past few decades to describe the wave of experiments in “extrasensory perception”—commonly abbreviated to ESP. Building upon the basic theory of evolution, its proponents set it forth as the essential countering influence to materialism and the mechanistic theory of the world. They now profess to harmonize religion and science on the very issues that separated them a century ago. So contends Dr. J. B. Rhine, director of the Parapsychology Laboratory of Duke University, Durham, North Carolina, in his The Reach of the Mind. Through parapsychology and emphasis on the spiritual nature of man he seeks to succeed where the bald Spiritualism of the past was discounted as mystic phantasma or crude fabrication.CFF2 1126.1

    1. SOCIETIES FOR STUDYING PSYCHIC SIXTH SENSE

    These experiments began decades ago. In 1882 a Society for Psychical Research was formed in England, followed in 1885 by the American Society for Psychical Research. There are now many groups and organizations in different lands devoted to the study of parapsychology. James W. Osborn has rightly emphasized the fact that “the gathering and screening of psychic data is becoming a major science.” 44) James W Osborn, “Experiments in Extrasensory Perception,” The Ministry, July, 1958, p. 13.CFF2 1126.2

    A critical study of clairvoyance and telepathy and other paranormal experiments now seeks to determine the inherent capabilities of the human mind, particularly impressions through other than the five senses-that is, a psychic sixth sense. This area includes “thought transference” (telepathy), “ability to see the invisible” (clairvoyance), “foretelling events” (precognition), and “controlling the movement of physical objects” (psychokinesis). Controlled experiments are being conducted in the university laboratory and classroom to determine the operation of supernatural powers coming from extraphysical sources but working through human beings. They are frankly believed to attest a “spirit invasion of the mind.” 55) Ibid., p. 15.CFF2 1127.1

    2. LABORATORIES CONVERTING SCIENTISTS INTO SPIRITUALISTS

    The claim is made that parapsychological evidence indicates that men have “inherent paranormal abilities,” similar to the higher perceptions of a god. Psychic investigators believe they have developed controlled conditions that eliminate fraud and the occult phenomena of magic. And the parapsychology laboratory has converted many psychic scientists to Spiritualism’s claims. This very attempt to safeguard in itself provides a favorable conditioning for deception-when the phenomena prove to be more than human and normal.CFF2 1127.2

    Psychic science has changed the emphasis as pertains to the nature of man. It works on the theory that “the human mind can bridge time and space, and control matter by thought.” 66) Osborn, “Parapsychology and Modern Thought,” The Ministry, August, 1958. Parapsychologists are probing the extraphysical frontiers of the mind on the premise that man is not “brain-centered” but “spiritcentered”—that is, psychocentric. But the spirit-soul is, by such, commonly considered a spiritual entity in its own right.CFF2 1127.3

    3. MAN’S MIND SAID TO BE PART OF UNIVERSAL GODMIND

    One trend in this philosophy is to regard God as a “Universal Intelligence” and man’s mind as an integral part of the supreme God-mind. Men are thus maneuvered into the position of believing that a supernatural new birth is not needed —since man already allegedly has the “divine mind” by natural birth, and thus inherently possesses divine powers. Prayer is likewise naturalizedconstrued to be “telepathic” contact with the Divine Mind. Indeed, by such, telepathy is regarded as a “means of communication between our minds (or spirits) and the Creator’s mind (or spirit).” 77) Alson J. Smith, Religion and the New Psychology pp. 163, 164. (Copyright 1951 by Alson J. Smith. Rep rinted by permission of Doubleday & Company, Inc.) Thus Dr. Norman Vincent Peale considers “telepathic” prayer as the sending out of vibrations to God, employing a force inherent in the spiritual universe that brings about the objectives prayed for. 88) Norman Vincent Peale, The Power of Positive Thtnking, p. 61.CFF2 1128.1

    4. INVOLVES QUESTION OF INNATE IMMORTALITY

    J. B. Rhine, of Duke University, makes this significant statement as to the relation of all this to “immortality.”CFF2 1128.2

    “Now, all that immortality means is freedom from the effects of space and time; death seems to be purely a matter of coming to a halt in the space-time universe. Therefore the conclusion that there is at least some sort of technical survival would seem to follow as a logical derivation from the ESP [extrasensory perception] research.” 99) J. B. Rhine, The Reach of the Mind, p. 213.CFF2 1128.3

    And in this connection Smith says: “Parapsychology... brings hope-hope for world peace, hope for more brotherly relations among men, hope for new unity of religious faith.” 1010) Alson J. Smith, op. cit., p. 151.CFF2 1128.4

    A new world religion has, of course, been Spiritualism’s undeviating goal for decades.CFF2 1128.5

    5. PARAPSYCHOLOGY TO HELP REUNITE CHRISTENDOM

    Dr. Alson J. Smith also stresses the part ESP research will play in reuniting science and religion, and particularly in reuniting Christendom. Here are his significant words:CFF2 1128.6

    “Doctrine, dogma, and form of organization all become secondary to the witness and power of the inner, supersensory life. Parapsychology will help unite Christendom by emphasizing that supernormal element that all denominations have in common and minimizing those divisive elements that have their roots in time obsession.” 1111) Ibid., p. 174.CFF2 1128.7

    So, as with the distinctively religious phase of former decades, parapsychologists today envision this new scientific approach as helping to bring about a new “world religion”on a psychic basis.CFF2 1129.1

    6. NEW ALLY IN SPIRITUAL WORLD

    Vast claims are made for parapsychology’s beneficent results in medicine (noted later), statesmanship, and human welfare. Thus the occult in parapsychology is regarded as our new ally in the spiritual world, with its revolutionary concepts of God and the soul, and all in the setting of the evolutionary progression of mankind. Here again is Smith:CFF2 1129.2

    “It would be a sane guess that the way is now open for a tremendous leap forward in the evolutionary scale. And this leap will bring us closer to the high place where the mind of man can comprehend the basic secrets of the cosmos and have fellowship with the Creator Mind of which it is a part.” 1212) Ibid., p. 183. (Italics supplied.)CFF2 1129.3

    Parapsychology’s relation to the concept of a new united Christendom is therefore based on the postulate that all men are spiritually part of the Supreme Mind.CFF2 1129.4

    7. USED TO DIAGNOSE AND HEAL DISEASE

    But there is yet another angle. Parapsychologists likewise believe that psychic power will soon be used to diagnose and cure disease. Thus Alson J. Smith adds:CFF2 1129.5

    “Consciously directed clairvoyance may now rival the X-ray machine in diagnostic importance, and consciously directed psychokinesis may now permit the tremendous energy locked up in the mind to be used to heal the body.” 1313) Ibid., p. 155.CFF2 1129.6

    In the minds of some of its devotees, spirit-centered psychic healing will replace both medical healing and God-centered divine healing. But of that, more soon.CFF2 1129.7

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