Review by Ryan Hurd (Reality Sandwich)
"Jack Hunter’s new book is a deft reframe of the so-called paranormal. If you have been dissatisfied with Richard Dawkin’s explanations for the annoying persistence of outlandish beliefs around the world (i.e. people are dumb), you will delight in this quick and readable study. As I’m sure Reality Sandwich readers are well aware, the standard scientistic position on the paranormal (or the transpersonal realms in general) is that it’s a delusion which human sheep lean on despite a complete lack of evidence.
Hunter patiently draws out several methodologies in the human sciences that provide exactly that: evidence, in the form of generations of studies and personal experiences from scientists working around the globe. In the old days, we called this empiricism. To be clear, Hunter is not advocating a belief in the paranormal. Rather, he’s interested in the experiences that often lie underneath beliefs without automatically judging them through the disenchanted lens of the West. In this book, Hunter maps the renewal in academia of the study of anomalies, or phenomena for which we currently don’t have a paradigm that satisfactorily explains them (without explaining them away). This includes the classic psi stuff (like telepathy and precognition) as well as energetic phenomena that are perceived as spirits and ghosts. As he quotes anthropologist Joseph Long in saying over thirty years ago, “a persistent ignoring of the relevancy of parapsychology in anthropology is nothing less than scientistic ethnocentricism.”
In less than 150 pages, Hunter leads us through a hopeful academic future that integrates the findings of parapsychology--which is a clinical, lab based discipline--with anthropology, which has truth claims based on personal and collective experience in other cultures. He calls this paranthropology (and edits a peer-reviewed journal by the same name).
There’s also some juicy stories of extraordinary experiences that I think many people will enjoy hearing about, especially as they are told by renowned researchers who dared to articulate what happened to them at the risk of tarnishing their reputations. The value of acknowledging this “spooky” realm of human experience is important, not just for a more complete rendering of poltergeists and ayahuasca sprites for posterity, but also for understanding and navigating contemporary events. Take, for example, the recent (and ongoing) murders of women in Papua New Guinea, who are being tortured and killed in public due to calls of sorcery.
As Hunter notes, the misunderstanding of anomalistic events by fearful people can lead to accusations of witchcraft. Ironically enough, the atheistic crowd surrounding Dawkins resembles frenzied witch-hunting villagers more than beacons of rational light in this regard. Hunter suggests, why not get out of our armchairs once again, and experience the world as others do who live in an enchanted world?
We might just learn something that leads to new observations, theories and hypotheses. And then we can test them, like good scientists are supposed to do."
Ryan Hurd is an independent scholar, editor of DreamStudies.org, and board member of the International Association for the Study of Dreams.
http://www.realitysandwich.com/rsreviews_may
Hunter patiently draws out several methodologies in the human sciences that provide exactly that: evidence, in the form of generations of studies and personal experiences from scientists working around the globe. In the old days, we called this empiricism. To be clear, Hunter is not advocating a belief in the paranormal. Rather, he’s interested in the experiences that often lie underneath beliefs without automatically judging them through the disenchanted lens of the West. In this book, Hunter maps the renewal in academia of the study of anomalies, or phenomena for which we currently don’t have a paradigm that satisfactorily explains them (without explaining them away). This includes the classic psi stuff (like telepathy and precognition) as well as energetic phenomena that are perceived as spirits and ghosts. As he quotes anthropologist Joseph Long in saying over thirty years ago, “a persistent ignoring of the relevancy of parapsychology in anthropology is nothing less than scientistic ethnocentricism.”
In less than 150 pages, Hunter leads us through a hopeful academic future that integrates the findings of parapsychology--which is a clinical, lab based discipline--with anthropology, which has truth claims based on personal and collective experience in other cultures. He calls this paranthropology (and edits a peer-reviewed journal by the same name).
There’s also some juicy stories of extraordinary experiences that I think many people will enjoy hearing about, especially as they are told by renowned researchers who dared to articulate what happened to them at the risk of tarnishing their reputations. The value of acknowledging this “spooky” realm of human experience is important, not just for a more complete rendering of poltergeists and ayahuasca sprites for posterity, but also for understanding and navigating contemporary events. Take, for example, the recent (and ongoing) murders of women in Papua New Guinea, who are being tortured and killed in public due to calls of sorcery.
As Hunter notes, the misunderstanding of anomalistic events by fearful people can lead to accusations of witchcraft. Ironically enough, the atheistic crowd surrounding Dawkins resembles frenzied witch-hunting villagers more than beacons of rational light in this regard. Hunter suggests, why not get out of our armchairs once again, and experience the world as others do who live in an enchanted world?
We might just learn something that leads to new observations, theories and hypotheses. And then we can test them, like good scientists are supposed to do."
Ryan Hurd is an independent scholar, editor of DreamStudies.org, and board member of the International Association for the Study of Dreams.
http://www.realitysandwich.com/rsreviews_may