< previous page page_64 next page >

Page 64
Psychic functioning is a step in the direction of consciousness becoming aware of itself. Remote viewing is the nonlocal mind revealing itself. Likewise, a spiritual healer would say that the experience of healing is a manifestation of nonlocal mind unfolding in the physical world. A spiritual healer's surrender of separateness, and willingness to be used as an instrument of healing, affects the world of form that we reside in. The physiology of the body responds to the caring attitudes within the community of spirit of our nonlocal mind. We now have solid experimental support of this fact.
I originally approached psi research from the point of view of a stage magician and a physicist, as related in Chapter I. The magician in me had experienced real ESP while doing conjuring tricks on the stage, leading me to realize that we do not have to believe in psi; we can experience it. Later I even had a psychic experience in the course of selling our remote-viewing program to NASA. I did a small card trick in which I asked the NASA contract monitor to shuffle a deck of cards, cut it, and choose a card. He put the deck back in the box, and I pulled out my pocket diary, and showed him that it said, "Today's card for George Pezdirtz was the eight of clubs"  the card that he thought he had freely chosen. The purpose was to demonstrate my awareness of the wily ways of magicians, and that we would not be deceived by tricksters in the course of our research. George then grabbed the deck and pulled out another card, and asked, "What's this one?" Since I had forced the first card, I didn't know what the second card might be. But as he asked the question, I got a clear mental picture of the three of diamonds (which I remember to this day). I asked him if that could be his card. Even with my poor vision, I could see his eyes grow large and his mouth fall open. It was the correct card. And NASA did eventually support our research.
So, the magician in me experienced psi regularly, but the physicist in me believed only in good experiments. As a follower of the logical positivist Alfred Ayer, I thought if an idea could not be directly demonstrated to the senses, it should be considered "non-sense." Since the concept of God could be neither demonstrated nor falsified, this too had to be rejected.

 
< previous page page_64 next page >