Assagioli argues that out-of-body experiences confirm that we can exist outside our bodies and that science already has some evidence to support the claim.
By Roberto Assagioli, ( Doc. #16677 – Assagioli Archives – Florence), Original Title: Risposta all’inchiesta della revista “Parapsicologia”. Translated and Edited With Notes by Jan Kuniholm[I]
Abstract: In this essay, Roberto Assagioli discusses the possibility of treating the problem of survival after physical death using scientific methods. He argues that the scientific method should not be limited to quantifiable or reproducible phenomena, as psychology itself would not be considered a science in that case. Assagioli suggests that the existence of psychic phenomena, such as telepathy and psychometry, indicate the potential for the conscious existence of the human personality outside of the physical body. He mentions the claims of Indian yogis and metapsychic case studies as evidence of this. Assagioli proposes that the persistence of the psyche after the body’s dissolution can be demonstrated through the investigation of more subtle states of matter and energy. He mentions the existence of ectoplasm and the teachings of Eastern and esoteric doctrines as supporting this hypothesis. Assagioli suggests that scientific investigation into these states of matter and energy, using technologies such as sensitive photographic plates and radio receivers, could potentially confirm and extend existing data. He concludes by stating that the demonstration of survival after death has significant scientific and human importance, even if further questions about the duration of survival and the relationship between psyche and spirit remain.
This essay is a response to Parapsychology magazine’s inquiry, “Is it possible, in your opinion, to treat the problem of survival after physical death with scientific methods? What are your reasons for or against?”
First of all, I think it is appropriate to try to establish what the scientific method is. In my opinion, the scientific method cannot and should not be limited to the study of phenomena that can be weighed or measured quantitatively, nor even only to those that can be reproduced experimentally at the will of the investigator. Otherwise psychology would not be a science, as is now generally admitted (or only physiological psychology, which is a very limited part of it, would be).
Here is one example, among many that could be adduced: The distinction between the extroverted type and the introverted type [of persons], and the description of them made by Jung, is a reality that can be regarded as scientifically demonstrated, since unbiased observation of the behavior of people gives continuous confirmation and proof of it. Yet it has not been made, nor confirmed, by quantitative or experimental methods.
The scientific spirit and method consists above all in the elimination of the causes of error represented by the various idols enumerated already by Bacon; it consists in the precise and objective observation of phenomena, whether spontaneous or experimentally proven, without preconceptions, without allowing oneself to be influenced by emotional elements (desires, fears, personal interests); it consists in drawing logically well-founded deductions from the findings made, so as to discover laws verifiable by subsequent observations or experiments.[ii]
Coming now to the precise subject of the inquiry, it seems to me that the first question to be asked is, “Has the temporary conscious existence of the human being —independent of, or outside the physical body — been demonstrated; or can it be demonstrated?”
It can be answered that it is to be considered already demonstrated that psychic “contents” can be transmitted in space outside biological organisms (telepathy). Moreover, many facts would also indicate the persistence over time of “psychic contents” independently of the organisms in or from which they were generated (“psychometry,” etc.). [iii]
If this is the case for particular psychological contents, then even more so it can be the case for that larger, organic psychological complex constituted by the human personality. There are facts that confirm the reality of the conscious life of the human personality outside its living physical body, albeit briefly.
[Certain] Indian yogis have always asserted that they possess the power to exit and re-enter the body, consciously, and that they know the psycho-physiological methods of doing so at will. In metapsychic case studies one finds testimonies of people claiming to have been outside the body with full self-consciousness and to have observed things and events that were later found to be accurate.If this is held to be demonstrated, or demonstrable, the materialistic bias (already strongly shaken by the mass of metapsychic phenomena), that the human psyche cannot function independently of the body, will be proven to be false. But if the psyche can function consciously outside the living body, this proves its independence from it, and thus the possibility, indeed the great probability, of [the psyche’s] persistence after [the body’s] dissolution.
The ways in which such persistence could best be demonstrated result from the following set of facts.
Mankind in its evolution has acquired the knowledge and mastery of successive states, or levels, or qualities of matter and energy, which are gradually more subtle. It has first investigated and mastered solid matter, then liquid matter (navigation), then gaseous matter (aviation); at present it is studying and utilizing the energies of the ether (radiation of various kinds — electromagnetic waves, subatomic particles, etc.).
Therefore, it is plausible to suppose that there are other states or degrees of even more subtle substance — energy with different properties and which could constitute the “support,” the vehicle, the medium of action of the psyche in general (constituting the “bridge” between it and the body), and more specifically of the psychic activity detached from the body.
There are facts that tend to demonstrate this hypothesis; for example, [the existence of] ectoplasm,[iv] the properties of which have been found to be diverse and variable, and which is subject to the action of psychic influences. Eastern, and esoteric doctrines in general, affirm the existence of such subtler states of matter and corresponding “bodies,” and there are numerous “psychics” who have claimed to “see” them. [v]
Well, such states of matter-energy are — and may increasingly become — the subject of scientific, even experimental, investigation. With increasingly sensitive photographic plates or films, existing data could be confirmed and extended. Moreover, with radio receivers capable of picking up shorter and shorter, or different, waves, one could perhaps go so far as to establish communications with beings without physical bodies.
It is not appropriate to deal here with further problems that arise after survival has been demonstrated, such as: the duration of survival; the possible disintegrations of psychisms and their modalities; or the relations between psyche and spirit; i.e. immortality.
One might express doubt that these problems can be the subject of scientific investigation; but on the other hand, the history of science has shown how imprudent and unscientific it is to place prejudicial limitations on the developments and achievements of human knowledge. However, the demonstration of survival already has scientific and human importance of incalculable magnitude, and it is, in my opinion, scientifically demonstrable, if not already demonstrated to some extent.
[i] The original document is an undated typed manuscript with hand-written corrections. Editor’s interpolations are shown in [brackets].—Ed.
[ii] In his essay “Psychology in the Future,” Assagioli listed the “idols” which Francis Bacon enumerated in his Novum Organum as being the main causes of error in thinking. He called them 1) “idols of the tribe,” 2) “idols of the den,” 3) “idols of the theater,” and 4) “idols of the market place.” These were tags for certain kinds of bias, prejudice, and notions that do not correspond to reality, that are accepted as truth. —Ed.
[iii] The term “psychometry” refers to the form of extra-sensory perception in which one may glean accurate knowledge of an object’s history by making physical contact with it. —Ed.
[iv] In biology “ectoplasm” is the watery outer layer of a cell. In parapsychology, “ectoplasm” refers to a vapor-like “substance” connected to psychic phenomena. It is not certain which term is being referred to in the text. —Ed.
[v] Some so-called “normal” people who claim no psychic or paranormal ability have reported something similar. For example, a hospice worker known to this editor who has been present at many deaths has reported multiple instances of physically seeing something that resembled what has been called “ectoplasm,” or a “something like a living cloud” exit the head of a person at the moment of death. —Ed.
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