(Article published in "Our section Free Opinion", of the Revista Psi-Ufo No.3, Nov. / Ten. 1986, of authorship of Herbert
Gonçalves Espuny).
Frequently, the beginners in the study of the
Parapsychology are questioned regarding the position of that new science in the universe of the human knowledge.
For a long time, marginalized of the context of the official science, the Parapsychology climbed a true mountain of obstacles to be recognized definitively in the condition of science. But in spite of that recognition, they still today persist erroneous ideas regarding the object and of the study method in what concerns to the paranormal phenomenology. In this text, we will try approach some of the reasons of these erroneous ideas, demonstrating that the position of the Parapsychology, inside of the human knowledge, it is clear and it should not be perverted by groups that try to manipulate it.
IN THE BEGINNING
We should remember that until the event of Rhine (twenties, of 20th century) all and any attempt of systematizing the paranormal experiment was useless: useless, sometimes, for not taking in consideration the quantitative aspect; useless, sometimes, for the calculations they be not worthy of credibility. This situation frequently moved away serious researchers of the phenomenon considered supernatural, antifísico, extranormal, finally, the whole phenomenon that fled to the known logical patterns.
In more remote times, the whole paranormal approach was made by occultists or religious persons. Alfred Still reminds us ("In the Borders of the Science and of the Parapsychology", ed. Ibrasa), that
first ones believed that could manipulate forces supernaturals and to address them for their own use: while the seconds, in spite of they also believe in these superior forces,
they always believed that any the gods'' interference was a mere concession, which they should request through offerings and prayers. From these two different optics approached the event "miraculous", "impossible" or paranormal. It settled down, then, that the religion and the occultism were the ONLY MEANS OF RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN MAN AND PARANORMAL PHENOMENA. So much as soon as same some of the men that possessed analytical mentality and experimentation spirit didn''t get rid of the "magicians''" breeze, "occultists" or "wizards" only for penetrating in the land of occurrences a little common (Pitágoras, Paracelso, Rasputin and others).
The scientists, therefore, decided to forget for a good time the supernatural things. Until that the own science, treading it own development, it opened a fantastic door of possibilities until then little imagined: the intra-atomic physics. The lower cases sub-atomic particles, with its little orthodox behavior, showed that the old determinism was not like this so "omnipotent" and the amusing probabilismo began to be faced more seriously. With this "opening scientific", many scientists they began to distrust that the paranormal phenomenology could not be finally, just "hallucinations" or great lies, and that it deserved more serious research works. Then, men of great reputation (like Richet, Crookes, etc.) put their knowledge and experiences in the search of to "cage" the phenomenon in a laboratory and to bring the Parapsychology for the official science. They bumped into the prejudice of many: their own friends of the scientific community answered their methods and, what was worse, a lot of times until the honesty. They criticized the form of the research, visa to be the same so only qualitative; they criticized, also, the capacity mental or moral of that that ventured in this unknown world.
Per years persisted the problem: how to bring usually to the laboratory a phenomenon spontaneous? How to repeat several times a same telepathic transn? Besides, how to conjugate scientific demands with prejudices and susceptibilities of the sensitive ones, what do those manifest the phenomenon?
The answers appeared of the laboratory of Parapsychology of the University of Duke (USA), where Joseph Banks Rhine developed, with a brilliant team, the statistical method of experimentation. The famous cards Zenner proved the occurrence of a positive deviation mathematically (or negative) of successes that it could not be attributed at random and nor either the other factors (it swindles, defective embaralhamento, marks microscopic in the cards, etc.) also controlled. Accomplished the demands of the most orthodox, in other words, of representing in researches of this nature an unquestionable method of experimentation, rose the candidate Parapsychology to the definitive science.
In spite of today hoisted in the condition of science, some difficulties persist. These difficulties have origin in the ambiguity of feelings that the Parapsychology can generate in groups of religious persons, occultists, intellectuals in general.
The first difficulty lives in the facts that integrate the essence of the parapsychological study. Finally, what search the
parapsychologist ? He seeks the telepathies, the clairvoyances, the precognitions , the poltergeists ("houses badly astonished"), etc. and all these phenomena never left of being approached by the religious persons or occultists. Then it grow up the one what, seemingly, would be called “a jurisdiction conflict”: should a paranormal cure be attributed to superior divinities to the human being and done just explore by the knowledge of the faith or also the science, through the recently - incorporate Parapsychology, should it research the fact and, if possible, to integrate it to the group of known phenomena? Many religious and occultists, fearing to lose the domain of treir very known "worlds", they also started to exercise the "parapsychologist" activity. Here in Brazil it is interesting to notice the existence of two determined different groups in this type of curious situation: Catholic priests that are affirmed "parapsychologist", that explore the Parapsychology to "prove" that the phenomenon paranormal has origin in the unconscious and, therefore, the "spirits" don''t exist preached by the spiritualists. Already these, that also possess their own "parapsychologist", that manipulate the parapsychology information and introduce it as a "scientific proof" of the existence of the spiritualistic phenomena. These facts contribute so that the people in general and until the layers more educated of the population end for attributing to the Parapsychology a false identity, in other words, the one of a science slave of the interests "Catholic" or "spiritualistic" in agreement with the "parapsychologist" that hear to speak or read.
Other groups, of the “occultist parapsychologists" see in the Parapsychology an excellent middle of transmission of their ideas. These teach "techniques" and hundreds of courses of exploration of the psychic potential are published every year as being of "Parapsychology". Other mistake that we needed to demystify: call occultism, of techniques of psychic development, of being able to mental, etc. but never of Parapsychology that supports its bases in very different premises.
The Parapsychology is a science that follow its own methods and bases on the rational knowledge. Therefore, it does not depend on the knowledge that structures the religions, that is the faith. It didn''t go only that, the Parapsychology is a humanities and, therefore, has in the man the center of their studies. It settles down an enough relationship for get free the Parapsychology of any religious bonds or occultists that if they want to attribute it. As much the religion as the occultist believes in existent superna