The Source Field Investigations wrote:Rigorous Laboratory Proof of Consciousness Transfer Thankfully, other scientists have performed similar experiments, further validating Backster’s initial results, without disappearing or being threatened. Dr. Charles Tart, from Berkeley, set up a bizarre experiment where he gave himself painful electrical shocks, automatically—and then attempted to “send” his pain to another person who was the “receiver.” This person was wired up to measure heart rate, blood volume and other physiological signals. Tart found that the receiver’s body did indeed respond to the shocks—through things such as an increase in heart rate and a decrease in blood volume—but the receiver had no conscious knowledge of when Dr. Tart was sending them.
12Probably the greatest modern pioneer in these sorts of experiments is Dr. William Braud. According to Lynne McTaggart in
The Field, Dr. Braud began by performing an experiment in the late 1960s in which he attempted to transmit his thoughts to one of his students—while the student was under hypnosis. When Dr. Braud pricked his hand, the student felt pain. When he put his hand over a candle flame, the student felt heat. When he stared at a picture of a boat, the student made comments about a boat. When Braud stepped into the sun, the student mentioned sunlight. Distance did not seem to matter; even when Braud was many miles away, it worked just as well.
13 This certainly suggests that the Backster Effect is just the beginning—we share much more information with one another than just the shocks from our nervous system. As the years went by, Dr. Braud sought ways to study this effect under controlled laboratory conditions—and he has now published more than 250 articles in professional psychology journals, and written numerous book chapters.
14 -15Braud’s first rigorous laboratory experiment involved knife fish, which emit electrical signals that change whenever they move from one position to another. These electrical signals can be used to precisely determine the fish’s position, and can be picked up by electrodes attached to the side of the tank. Braud’s participants were consistently able to change the position of the fish by their conscious intent alone. Similarly, Braud found that participants could increase the speed that Mongolian gerbils ran on their activity wheels, with all other factors being ruled out. Braud also designed an experiment in which he put human red blood cells in a test tube—along with a saline solution that had enough salt in it to kill the cells. His participants were able to focus their minds and protect these cells from bursting open. This was easily verified by measuring how much light could pass through the solution. The more the cells broke down, the more transparent the solution became—so less light was a sign of healthier cells.
16From there, Braud moved on to human beings. Have you ever felt someone staring at you, only to turn around and find out you were right? Braud wanted to see if he could study this effect in the lab, and confirm that it really works. He put one person in a private room with a small video camera, wired him up to the polygraph and told him to relax. In a neighboring room, he could see the participant’s face on his television monitor. A second participant was then told to stare intently at this person on the monitor and try to get his attention—but only when a computerized random-number generator told them to. Sure enough, when the first person was being stared at, his skin revealed significant electrical spikes. This occurred an average of 59 percent of the time he was being stared at—as opposed to the 50 percent that would be expected by random chance.
17 This might not sound like much, but a 9-percent increase above chance is considered highly substantial.
Dr. Braud then changed the experiment. He had his participants meet each other first—and stare intently into each other’s eyes while they talked. He encouraged them to get comfortable with each other. Now, when the person was stared at by his new friend, he noticeably relaxed—on a measurable electrical level.
18 This is solid proof that people can be staring at us, sending us their pain, transmitting thoughts—and even though our bodies may react to these signals on a physical level, we usually don’t have any conscious awareness of what’s going on. The same thing might be happening when the phone rings and we think we know who it is—only to find out we were right. When the caller visualizes our face, we feel something—and if our mind is quiet enough, we might get a mental image of who it is. Rupert Sheldrake, one of the most renowned Source Field investigators in modern times, also has proven “the sense of being stared at” is indeed genuine—in multiple, published experiments.
19The Outer Limits of Shared ConsciousnessMinor anxiety disorders, like nervousness and the inability to concentrate, also were measurably improved in Dr. Braud’s studies. In an experiment from 1983, Dr. Braud and an anthropologist named Marilyn Schlitz studied a group of highly nervous people along with a group of calmer people. The nervousness of each group, in this case, could be directly measured by the amount of electrical activity on their skin. In some cases, the groups were given common relaxation techniques and instructed to calm themselves down. In other cases, Braud and Schlitz tried to calm them down by simply concentrating on them from another room. The originally calm group showed very little change by practicing the exercises or being “remote influenced,” but the nervous group became much calmer—in both cases. Surprisingly, Braud and Schlitz’s remote influencing effects upon the nervous group worked almost as well as any relaxation exercises they did for themselves.
20 Similarly, when Braud and Schlitz remotely concentrated on someone in an attempt to help him focus his attention, the subject had an immediate improvement. The people whose minds were the most apt to wander gained the strongest benefits from this process.
21Thankfully, Braud also found out that we are not helpless against these remote influences—we can shield the ones we don’t want.
22 If you visualize a protective shield, a safe, a barrier or a screen—whatever you feel comfortable with—you can indeed stop these influences from affecting you.
23 The remote influencers did not know which participants were trying to block their thoughts, but the people who did try to shield themselves were successful.
24 Other evidence suggests a positive attitude in life is your best protection, as we will see—the highest “coherence” wins.
12 Tart, Charles. “Physiological Correlates of Psi Cognition.” International Journal of Parapsychology, 1963: 5; 375–86.
13 McTaggart, Lynne. The Field: The Quest for the Secret Force of the Universe. New York: HarperCollins, 2002; pp. 126–127.
14 Institute of Transpersonal Psychology. William Braud’s Faculty Profile.
http://www.itp.edu/academics/faculty/braud.php (accessed December 2010).
15 Institute of Transpersonal Psychology. William Braud: Publications.
http://www.itp.edu/academics/faculty/br ... ations.php (accessed December 2010).
16 Braud, W. and Schlitz, M. J. “Consciousness interactions with remote biological systems: anomalous intentionality effects.” Subtle Energies, 1991; 2(1): 1–46.
17 Schlitz, M. and LaBerge, S. “Autonomic detection of remote observation: two conceptual replications.” In Bierman (ed), Proceedings of Presented Papers: 465–78.
18 Braud, W., et al.: “Further Studies of autonomic detection of remote staring: replication, new control procedures and personality correlates.” Journal of Parapsychology, 1993; 57: 391–409.
19 Sheldrake, Rupert. Papers on the Sense of Being Stared At. Sheldrake.org.
http://www.sheldrake.org/Articles&Paper ... index.html (accessed December 2010).
20 Braud, W. and Schlitz, M. Psychokinetic influence on electrodermal activity. Journal of Parapsychology, 1983; 47(2): 95–119.
21 Braud, W., et al.: “Attention focusing facilitated through remote mental interaction.” Journal of the American Society for Psychical Research, 1995; 89(2): 103–15.
22 Braud, W. G. “Blocking/shielding psychic functioning through psychological and psychic techniques: a report of three preliminary studies.” In White, R. and Solfvin, I. (eds), Research in Parapsychology, 1984 Metuchen, NJ: Scarecrow Press, 1985, pp. 42–44.
23 Braud, W. G., “Implications and applications of laboratory psi findings.” European Journal of Parapsychology, 1990–91; 8: 57–65.
24 Braud, W., et al. “Further studies of the bio-PK effect: feedback, blocking, generality/ specificity.” In White, R. and Solfvin, I. (eds), Research in Parapsychology: 45–48.