Paranormality: Why we see what isn't there (10 page)

Like nature, brains
abhor a vacuum, and so start to generate imagery about where they are and what they are doing. That is part of the reason why people are more likely to have images flowing through their mind when they shut their eyes, are in the dark or take drugs. Blackmore hypothesized that certain types of people would naturally find it easy to imagine what the world looks like when you float out of your body, and also become so absorbed in their imagery that they confused imagination for reality, and that these individuals that would be especially likely to experience OBEs.
 

To test her theory Blackmore carried out several experiments
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In fact, you have already taken part in a version of them. A few pages ago I asked you to imagine yourself being about six feet above where you actually are, and rate the clarity of your imagery and the ease with which you switched from one perspective to another. Sue presented this task to two groups of people – those that had experienced an out-of-body experience and those that had not – and obtained very different results. Those that had previously experienced floating away from themselves tended to report much more vivid images and found it much easier to switch between the two perspectives.
 

Blackmore also speculated that people who reported OBEs would tend to become absorbed in their experiences, so that they found it difficult to separate fact from fantasy. I also asked you to rate the degree to which six statements described you. Five of them are the types of items that you find on standard questionnaires designed to measure the degree to which you become absorbed in your experiences (I added the item about the stoats working too hard for fun). People who obtain high scores on absorption questionnaires tend to lose track of time when they watch films and television programmes, become confused about whether they have actually carried out an action or simply imagined it, and are more easily hypnotized (in the case of the five questions presented at the start of this chapter a total of 20 or more would constitute a high score). In contrast, lower scorers are more down-to-earth, practical and rarely confuse their imagination with reality (a low score would be ten or less). Blackmore’s studies involved asking OBEers and non-OBEers to complete absorption questionnaires: the OBEers consistently obtained much higher scores.

In short, Blackmore’s data suggests that people who experience OBEs are much better than others at naturally generating the type of imagery associated with the experience, and struggle to tell the difference between reality and imagination. Put these people in a situation where their bodies receive only a small amount of unchanging information about where they actually are and, just like the people taking part in the dummy hand and virtual reality experiments, they can end up believing that they are no longer located inside their bodies.

BOX

HOW TO LEAVE YOUR BODY

Understanding the real causes of out-of-body experiences can help you become a frequent flyer. The first part of the process involves developing three key psychological skills: relaxation, visualization and concentration. Let’s examine each in turn.

Relaxation
 

‘Progressive Muscle Relaxation’ involves deliberately tensing various muscle groups and then releasing the tension. To try the technique, remove your shoes, loosen any tight clothing and sit in a comfortable chair in a quiet room. Focus your attention on your right foot. Gently inhale and clench the muscles in your foot as hard as possible for about five seconds. Next, exhale and release all of the tension, allowing the muscles to become loose and limp. Work your way around your body performing the procedure in the following order:

Right foot
 

Right lower leg
 

Entire right leg
 

Left foot
 

Left lower leg
 

Entire left leg
 

Right hand
 

Right forearm
 

Entire right arm
 

Left hand
 

Left forearm
 

Entire left arm
 

Abdomen
 

Chest
 

Neck and shoulders
 

Face

Each time, tense the appropriate body part for about five seconds and then release the tension.
 

Visualization

Inducing an out-of-body experience requires good visualization skills. If you are naturally good at imagining scenes and pictures in your head then that is great. If not, try the following exercise.
 

Imagine walking into your kitchen, taking an orange out of the cupboard and placing it on a green plate. Next, think about digging your nails into the smooth skin of the orange and starting to peel it. Think about how the orange would feel and smell. Visualize the juice coming out of the orange and onto your fingers. Imagine pulling all of the peel away and placing it on the plate. In your mind’s eye, separate each of the segments and place them on the plate as well. Now look at the juicy segments. Are you salivating? Are the colours bright and sharp? Was each stage of the process vivid and did it involve all of your senses?
 

Repeat the exercise once every few days, trying to make it seem more realistic each time.
 

Concentration

The ability to focus your thoughts is also key to creating an out-of-body experience. This simple exercise will help assess and, if necessary, improve your concentration skills.

Try to count from 1 to 20 in your mind, moving onto each new number after a few seconds. However, the moment that any other thought or image enters your mind, start the count again. Initially, you will probably find this simple task surprisingly difficult, but over time you will learn how to focus your thoughts and will soon find yourself counting to 20 with no distractions.

Putting it all together

OK, it’s time to try and induce an out-of-body experience. Sit in the most comfortable chair in your house. Next, stand up and take a look around. How does the room look from this perspective? Remember as many details as possible including, for example, the position of any furniture, the scene outside the window, and any pictures on the walls. Next, slowly make your way to another room. Once again, notice as much as possible on the way, including the colour of the walls, the furniture and objects that you encounter, and the type of flooring that you are walking on. To help with the process, choose four key points along the route and remember them in as much detail as possible.
 

Now return to the original room and sit down in the chair. Carry out the ‘Progressive Relaxation Exercise’. When you feel completely relaxed, imagine a duplicate of yourself standing in front of you. To avoid the difficult (and for many, unpleasant) task of visualizing your face, imagine that your doppelganger is standing with their back of you. Try to form an image of their clothes and the way they are standing. Now, think back to what you saw when you were actually standing in that position, and imagine moving from your body into theirs. Don’t worry if you don’t succeed at first. This is tricky stuff and usually requires some practice.
 

Once you manage to feel as though you have left your own body and entered the mind of your imaginary doppelganger, try to take a few steps along the route that you mapped out, stopping at each of the four points to admire the view. If you are struggling with the movement, some researchers recommend increasing your motivation by not drinking any liquid for a few hours before the experience, and placing a glass of water in the room that you intend to visit. Also, don’t be afraid of the experience – remember, you can snap back into your body at any point. After you have got the hang of inducing an out-of-body experience, you should be able to fly around the world at will, limited only by your imagination and without feeling guilty about your carbon footprint.
 

END BOX

For decades a small number of devoted scientists attempted to prove that the soul is able to leave the body. They took photographs of recently deceased family members, weighed the dying, and asked those having out-of-body experiences to try to see pictures hidden in distant locations. The enterprise failed because you are a product of your brain and so cannot exist outside of your skull. Subsequent research into out-of-body experiences focused on finding a psychological explanation for these strange sensations. This work revealed that your brain constantly relies on information from your senses to construct the feeling that you are inside your body. Fool your senses with the help of rubber hands and virtual reality systems, and suddenly you can feel as if you are part of a table or standing a few feet in front of your body. Rob your brain of these signals and it has no idea where you are. Couple this sense of being lost with vivid imagery of flying around, and your brain convinces itself that you are floating away from your body.
 

Your brain automatically and unconsciously carries out the vitally important ‘where am I?’ task every moment of your waking life. Without it, you would feel that you are part of the chair you are sitting on one moment and in the floor the next. With it, you have the stable sense of constantly being inside your body. Out-of-body experiences are not paranormal and do not provide evidence for the soul. Instead, they reveal something far more remarkable about the everyday workings of your brain and body.

3. MIND OVER MATTER

In which we discover how one man fooled the world, learn how to bend metal with the power of our minds, investigate gurus in India and find out why we sometimes cannot see what is happening right in front of our eyes.

Born in New Jersey in 1959, James Alan Hydrick had a tough childhood
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When he was three years old his alcoholic mother ran away from the family, leaving her equally alcoholic husband to bring up Hydrick on his own. When Hydrick was six years old a bad situation became even worse when his father was convicted of armed robbery and sentenced to two years in prison. This, combined with rumours that Hydrick was a victim of physical abuse, caused social services to move him into foster care. Unfortunately, Hydrick’s behaviour proved problematic, and he was moved from one foster family to another.

When he was eighteen, he was convicted of kidnapping and robbery, and spent time in the Los Angeles County Jail. While behind bars, he developed an avid interest in martial arts and worked hard to master various fighting techniques. Around the same time he also appeared to manifest psychokinetic powers. In what was to become his best-known demonstration, Hydrick would balance a pencil lengthways over the edge of a table and ‘will’ it to move. With his head turned in the opposite direction and hands away from the table, the pencil would slowly rotate, then stop and reverse direction. On other occasions he would open the prison Bible and ask Jesus to make his presence known. The pages of the good book would turn over one after another as if being turned by a ghostly hand.
 

When he was released from prison, Hydrick travelled to Salt Lake City, set up the ‘Institute of Shaolin Gung Fu’, and offered to help others learn martial arts and develop their psychokinetic abilities. In addition to moving pencils and fluttering the pages of Bibles, Hydrick added other stunts to his psychic repertoire, including making heavy punch bags in his Institute’s gym swing without touching them.
 

In December 1980 he was invited to demonstrate his powers on ABC’sTV
 
programme
That’s Incredible!.
Each week the show featured a bizarre mix of stunts and performers, including a record-breaking sword-swallower, a group of rats that played basketball in a specially constructed mini-court, and a man who was prepared to be dragged along the ground on a metal tray at over a hundred miles per hour. The programme attracted a huge audience and represented a golden opportunity for Hydrick to hit the big time.

Hydrick (who by this time had adopted the mysterious-sounding stage name ‘Song Chai’) opened the segment by performing his psychokinetic page-turning stunt. All went well, with the studio audience shouting ‘That’s Incredible!’ on cue, and the phrase appearing in large block capitals across the screen for the hard of thinking. He then chatted about his abilities with the hosts and performed the pencil stunt. The audience were impressed.
 

Then it happened. Host John Davidson, who was sitting closest to Hydrick during the pencil demonstration, said that he thought he had heard Hydrick blowing on the pencil. Hydrick looked hurt and denied the accusation. A dramatic hush spread over the audience, presumably as they readied themselves to shout ‘Actually, If That Is The Case, That’s Not Quite So Incredible!’ With his back against the wall, Hydrick turned to Davidson and asked, ‘Do you want to put your hand over my mouth?’ Davidson agreed, and the studio audience held their breath as Hydrick focused on moving the pencil. A few seconds later the pencil slowly rotated around. Davidson looked stunned and the audience went wild.
 

Word of Hydrick’s remarkable abilities quickly spread, with one national tabloid going so far as to label him ‘The World's Top Psychic’. He seemed destined for a place in the psychic hall of fame. And he may well have achieved it if it hadn’t been for James ‘The Amazing’ Randi.

That’s My Line

In Chapter One we learned how magician and arch-sceptic James Randi has devoted his life to paranormal myth-busting, offering a million dollars to anyone who can demonstrate the existence of paranormal abilities under scientifically controlled conditions (his money remains unclaimed).