Visionary Fiction and the Science of Consciousness, Part 3

Applied Parapsychology: Synchronicity and Super Synchronicity

To read or revisit Part One of this series, click HERE. For Part Two, Click HERE.

Parapsychology in its various aspects is an enormous field of study and practice both for evolving humans trekking through the maze of physical/mental/spiritual existence and for visionary authors narrating that tortuous saga, aptly named the Hero’s Journey by mythologist Joseph Campbell.

But prior to it becoming a way of life or genre of fiction, parapsychology is a science: a body of knowledge that can be trusted because a scientist, in the broad sense of the term, did the proper lab work and wrote the requisite papers that other scientists diligently vetted. Such science takes dedication, time, and resources, and often must be done in the hostile environment mentioned earlier. So, a work like Super Synchronicity: Where Science and Spirit Meet is a priceless gift to humanity.

For someone coming cold upon the concept of synchronicity, this book might initially evoke a “You’ve got to be kidding.” Why Gary’s degrees and experience are necessary for him to get away with it.

But as a VF writer, who sees that reality is often stranger than fiction, I came to it already familiar with the concept and experience of synchronicity. Even supersynchronicity (six or more events “in close proximity that do not seem to have any causal connection but are still related meaningfully”) was not too much of a stretch. But rarely did I pay attention long enough to count that far. Also, I had no idea how many others had such experiences and in what quantities, or what might cause such chains of events.  All this and more I gathered from Dr. Schwartz’s dissection of this complex subject presented in a chatty tone that made me feel like the author was talking to me personally. He was even kind enough to point out looming technical or mathematical swamps, giving permission to skip over them if necessary.

At least since Carl Jung’s Synchronicity: An Acausal Connecting Principle published in 1960, synchronicity has been considered a psychic complement or alternative to classical scientific causality itself, a substitution that requires concentration to grasp. Not an excursion for psychic voyeurs.  Dr. Schwartz gently but logically proposes what he calls the Quantum Synchronicity Theory (QST), calling on the wave-particle concept of quantum physics to show how synchronicity can be singular and plural, subjective and objective, at the same time.

VF Picks up Where Lab Testing Can’t Go

Further, Super Synchronicity suggests that the scientific method, already used to verify simple psi, can be expanded to prove out complex psi. Gary gives several detailed examples for accumulating real time evidence of a supersynchronicity.  In my experience, Visionary Fiction, both in its writing and reading, follows a similar path to illustrate the faculties involved in growth of consciousness. Note that science fiction writers like Jules Verne and Robert Heinlein used a similar experimental technique based in theoretical science to postulate future “hard science” like space travel.

Recall also the example of the team, prolific novelist Taylor Caldwell and psychic reincarnation researcher Jess Stearn, that I cited in a previous article. It might be disparaged as anecdotal; and yet for reincarnation, as complex a form of psi as there is, it is strong evidence, an NOE (No Other Explanation) in my opinion.

My own historical novels, which also explore reincarnation, owe much to researchers like Stearn and Ian Stevenson of the University  of Virginia. Still, it was the anomalous  experiences I had while writing (see The Parapet on my website as one example) that convinced me that I’d hit something beyond fiction. When readers then told me that my books caused change in their lives by inducing them to recall prior lives and notice other paranormal phenomena, I knew I was going in the right direction. Frequently, by just continuing to write, we come to trust that the visionary glimmer, crazy as it seems when it first pops out from whence such things come, will reveal itself in its own right time–and it will be good.

Self-Science

I found it amazing and instructive that, in last chapters of Super Synchronicity, Gary Schwartz, the confirmed scientist, broke out of objective mold and soared to heights where supersynchronicities are always and everywhere, ubiquitous facets of the One Mind that is all that there is. A mystical conclusion, to be sure, but stated humbly and directly by one who has many times walked the long miles of the exotic journey of which he writes.

Nevertheless, he does not simply dump a dose of metaphysics on the reader, leaving him to hope that grace or a strong psychedelic will visit him with an experience like Maurice Bucke’s. Ever the psychology professor aware of the limitations of the timid human mind, Gary introduces a dandy tool to explore our usually underdeveloped psychic side. In the book’s Introduction, he writes:

I will introduce in these pages the concept of “self-science,” which is especially important for the study of synchronicities, and which essentially refers to creatively applying the methods of science to the real-life laboratories of our personal lives. By providing you with self-science methods and tools that are easy to apply, you will have the opportunity to discover and evaluate for yourself synchronicities in your own life and in the lives of others.

Self-science, whether applied to synchronicity, reincarnation, or any other element that induces growth in consciousness, ought to be in every VF writers’ vocabulary. It is classical: know thyself. And biblical: the kingdom of God is within. It is a double star: we gain self-science as we write and we engender self-science in another when they read .

Parapsychology to Create the Future

Despite all the water that has flowed beneath the many bridges of his expertise, we wouldn’t expect Dr. Schwartz to just sit now and marvel at the wonders he has wrought. Like those of us who are finally getting the hang of this visionary fiction thing and its power to contribute to a better future, Gary estimates that the best fruits of his decades of paranormal research are ahead. Blessed to be both philosopher and science guy, Gary appreciates electronic gadgetry; and one of his team’s efforts-in-progress is the SoulPhone®.

Now, hold your breath. This one is literally out-of-this-world. But then, why not a device to bridge between mind and matter, life and death? What better use for applied parapsychology than an instrument promoted as “An Integrative, Evidence-Based Technology for Spirit Communication” that “may someday allow you to visit with your ‘deceased’ loved ones. That may sound impossible or too good to be true but, based on early research findings, it’s not.” So this device in development, based in part on the years of research Gary has invested in mediumship and other paranormal phenomena, is described on the website for The SoulPhone® Foundation and in another article featuring it.

Sure, it’s whacko. But so was the submarine in Jules Verne’s 20,000 Leagues under the Sea. That’s how dreams come true. There are plenty of us old enough to remember when desktop computers were science fiction and a portable phone that slipped into your pocket—fuhgeddaboudit! In An Atheist in Heaven, Dr. Schwartz has amply demonstrated that a deceased person does not even have had to believe in God to communicate with the still-alive. Why not an improved method to place long distance calls to departed relatives? Or whatever other leap of mind or heart the ever-creative human spirit can conjure up?

I hope this series about the work of Dr. Gary Schwartz and his cadre of latter-day Galileos serves as fuel for our visionary thoughts and imaginations. Providence, by whatever name, supplies challenges in abundance for those who would play the game. VF writers see and describe them, and so there are VF books. These, in effect, throw down the gauntlet to scientists and other really smart folks who design elegant and practical solutions. And so there are computers and cell phones and soul phones. And growth in consciousness. What fun!