◆ SpookStack

“Approved For Release 2001/04/02 CA. RDPS6- (00789R001001420004. 3. We FER AE oe tae EPO adh ottnony ee Ea de ET We Wa SELF IMPOSED OBSTACLES Despite extensive evidence of psi and its tremendous potential use as an instrument of power, we continue to impede our own progress. Our mind set, extreme secrecy, and disjoint research fuels skepticism and criticism rather than seeking truth. MIND SET The history of psi in Western society is filled with distinguished scientist from diverse fields who became maligned and professionally ridiculed for their psychic research. People feared that science would undermine traditional religious beliefs. Even electricity was considered to be an occult and mystical force in the 1850s. Robert Hare, a major American chemist, Alfred Russel Wallace, the cofounder with Darwin of the theory of evolution by natural selection, and Sir William Crookes, the chemist and physicist who discovered thallium and invented the radiometer, were the first of a continual succession of eminent scientists who endorsed paranormal claims based on their own research (27:825). Even today, the 130 years of controversy over psychical research is impeding progress. Robert Jahn, Professor of Aerospace Sciences and Dean of the School of Engineering and Applied Sciences at Princeton related one experience. I confess that I [discuss parapsychology <* research] with some trepidation, borne of wo previous unpleasant experiences. For example, a lighthearted article in the Princeton atums Magazine, in which I attempted to share some Approved For Release 2001/04/02 : CIA-RDP96- 00769R001001420001 -3 Q7