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we are given." They tell us that:
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The culture we inhabit reinforces only some of our latent capacities, while neglecting or suppressing others. In the contemporary West, for example, there is great support for high-level athletic development, but relatively little for advanced meditation and the metanormal capacities it evokes. 30
Our old friend Patanjali, at least three hundred years before Christ, described a litany of "metanormal" abilities available to those who practiced meditation consistently. We list them in their entirety in Chapter 6, and only reiterate here that contemporary research involving remote viewing, near-death studies, psychic diagnosis, and distant healing are confirming that many of the extended abilities known to Patanjali are becoming manifest today. Some of them include: "Knowledge of past and future; perception of the small, the concealed, and the distant; knowledge of other inhabited regions; knowledge of the interior of the body; and general intuition."31
A central aim of the practice of Yoga, as expounded by Patanjali, was the understanding and experience of our true nature of oneness with God and each other. Emotional equanimity, nonantagonism to any situation that might arise, expanded awareness, joy, fulfillment, and psychic abilities were the by-products of such understanding. The development of every human faculty  rational, intuitive, physical, emotional, and ethical  which may be conducive to that end of perfect knowledge, and union with the Divine, were part of Yogic practice.
We said at the outset that this was a book about psychic abilities and healing connections. We believe that psi's greatest value will be found in its ability to help us discover a deeper understanding of who we are, to enable us to experience our most intimate relationship with each other, and to learn to more fully appreciate the wonder of the universe and our place in it. As we look toward the future, it is our hope that our investigations of remote viewing and healing will make a contribution toward achieving a more peaceful and compassionate world.

 
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