Podcast Episode: Parapsychology And Consciousness

Pip: Liberty Psychological Association — building what it calls the most comprehensive online library on mental health, psychology, and parapsychology in the world, which is either a mission statement or a very committed filing system.

Mara: Shervan K Shahhian and Liberty Psychological Association are covering serious ground today — psychokinesis and how researchers try to measure it, psychic experience and the question of non-human intelligences, and auditory hallucinations on the clinical side.

Pip: Let's start with things that move without being touched.

Psychokinesis: From Table Tipping to Large-Scale PK

Mara: The question this territory is asking is whether the mind can directly influence physical matter — and if so, at what scale, and how would you even test it?

Pip: The table levitations post sets the historical baseline. Nineteenth-century spiritualist gatherings, hands lightly placed, tables rocking. The post notes that researchers studied these claims and concluded "many cases could be explained by unconscious muscular movements exerted by the participants."

Mara: That's the ideomotor effect — people producing small muscle movements without conscious awareness, and those movements combining across multiple participants into something that looks dramatic but isn't.

Pip: So the séance table was basically a group ouija board running on collective fidgeting. Scientifically humbling, but also kind of elegant.

Mara: The large-scale PK post extends this into much bigger claimed effects — weather modification, disruptions to power grids and electronic systems, and collective consciousness influencing random number generators, as in the Global Consciousness Project. These are called macro-PK claims when effects extend beyond localized environments.

Pip: And then there's micro-PK, which is the quieter end of the spectrum — subtle statistical influences on random number generators, radioactive decay, quantum-level events. Not visible to the naked eye, detectable only across many trials.

Mara: The micro-PK post is careful to note that mainstream science attributes reported effects to statistical fluctuations, experimental error, and publication bias. The evidence hasn't met the bar for replication required for scientific acceptance, though parapsychology researchers continue investigating.

Mara: The scale question matters — from a table tilting in a Victorian parlor to weather anomalies to dice outcomes — it's the same underlying hypothesis about consciousness and matter, just tested at very different levels.

Pip: Which raises the question of what counts as a psychic experience in the first place.

Psychic Experience and the Question of Non-Human Intelligences

Mara: The psychic phenomena post maps the full terrain — telepathy, clairvoyance, precognition, remote viewing, mediumship — and offers a working definition: "experiences or alleged abilities involving the acquisition of information or influence that appear to occur outside the currently recognized mechanisms of the six senses or known physical processes."

Pip: That's a carefully neutral framing. It doesn't claim proof, but it doesn't dismiss the reports either.

Mara: Right — and the post is honest that psychological processes like pattern recognition, confirmation bias, and unconscious social cue detection can account for many experiences that feel psychic. The open question is whether any remainder survives that explanation.

Pip: The non-human intelligences post pushes into stranger territory. NHIs are hypothesized entities — spirit intelligences, extraterrestrial or interdimensional beings, collective consciousnesses — believed by some researchers to interact with people through psychic means.

Mara: Associated experiences include telepathic communication, apparitions, UAP encounters, and near-death experiences. No scientific consensus that NHIs exist, but the concept sits at the intersection of parapsychology, ufology, and consciousness studies, and the post treats it as a live research question rather than a closed one.

Pip: And there's a podcast episode in this batch — Psi, UAPs, and Consciousness — that pulls these threads together directly, which tells you something about how seriously this library takes the overlap.

Mara: Both posts land in the same place: whether these experiences represent independent intelligences, aspects of human consciousness, or something else remains genuinely open.

Pip: From entities that may or may not exist, to experiences that are very much real — and need clinical attention.

When the Mind Hears What Isn't There

Mara: The auditory hallucinations post is clinical and direct: these are "hearing sounds, voices, music, or noises that are not actually present in the environment," ranging from simple buzzing or ringing to complex voices.

Pip: The causes run wide — schizophrenia, severe depression, sleep deprivation, substance use, epilepsy, dementia, even high fever. The post is explicit that treatment depends on identifying the cause, and that persistent or distressing experiences warrant professional evaluation.

Mara: The warning signs flagged are specific: voices commanding harmful actions, difficulty distinguishing hallucination from reality, sudden onset with medical symptoms. The post directs anyone in that situation to seek urgent help immediately.


Pip: From tables lifting in Victorian parlors to statistical anomalies in random number generators to voices that need a clinician — it's a wide library.

Mara: The common thread is taking unusual experience seriously enough to ask the right questions. More from the library next time.

Psychodrama is a form of psychotherapy that may use guided role playing,…

Psychodrama is a form of psychotherapy that may use guided role playing, dramatization, and action methods to help people explore emotions, relationships, conflicts, and life experiences.

How Psychodrama May Work

A participant (called the protagonist) reenacts a situation from their life, such as:

A difficult relationship

A traumatic experience

An unresolved conflict

A future challenge or decision

An internal struggle

Other group members may play the roles of significant people, emotions, or aspects of the protagonist’s personality.

Common Techniques

Role Reversal: Taking the role of another person to understand their perspective.

Mirroring: Watching someone else act out your behavior so you can see yourself from the outside.

Doubling: Another person expresses thoughts or feelings that the protagonist may be struggling to verbalize.

Future Projection: Acting out a future situation to prepare for it.

Benefits

Psychodrama may help people:

Increase self-awareness

Process unresolved emotions

Improve communication skills

Develop empathy

Gain new perspectives on problems

Practice healthier behaviors

Example

A person who has unresolved feelings toward a deceased parent might speak to an empty chair representing that parent, expressing thoughts and emotions that were never communicated. This may help create emotional insight and closure.

Uses

Psychodrama may be used in:

Individual and group therapy

Trauma treatment

Addiction recovery programs

Family and couples therapy

Personal growth workshops

Organizational and team-building settings

Limitations

Psychodrama may evoke strong emotions. It is generally most effective when led by a trained psychodrama therapist who may provide structure, safety, and support.

In modern practice, psychodrama is may be integrated with other approaches such as Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, Family Therapy, trauma informed therapies, and experiential therapies.

Shervan K Shahhian

Continuing Bonds Theory is a grief and bereavement theory:

Continuing Bonds Theory is a grief and bereavement theory that suggests healthy adaptation to loss does not require completely “letting go” of the deceased. Instead, people often maintain an ongoing psychological, emotional, or symbolic relationship with the person who died.

The theory is associated with the work of certain researchers, grieving meant severing attachments to the deceased.

Core Ideas

  • The bond with the deceased often continues after death.
  • Maintaining that bond may be a normal and healthy part of grieving.
  • The relationship changes form rather than ending completely.
  • Grief involves integrating the loss into one’s life and identity.

Examples of Continuing Bonds

  • Talking to the deceased internally.
  • Keeping photographs or treasured possessions.
  • Visiting gravesites or memorials.
  • Celebrating the person’s birthday or other meaningful dates.
  • Drawing guidance or comfort from memories of the deceased.
  • Feeling that the deceased remains part of one’s life story.

Strengths of the Theory

  • Reflects how many bereaved people actually experience grief.
  • Recognizes cultural and spiritual practices that maintain connections with the dead.
  • Reduces pressure to “move on” or “get over” a loss.

Criticisms

  • In some cases, an ongoing bond may become problematic if it prevents adaptation to current life demands.
  • The theory may not clearly distinguish between healthy continuing bonds and more complicated forms of grief.

In Practice

Modern grief counseling may incorporate the principles of Continuing Bonds Theory by helping individuals find meaningful ways to maintain a connection with the deceased while continuing to engage with life and relationships in the present.

Shervan K Shahhian

Parapsychology: After-Death Communications (ADCs) are experiences,…

After-Death Communications (ADCs) are experiences in which a person feels they have had contact or communication with someone who has died. These experiences are commonly reported by bereaved individuals and may occur spontaneously, often during periods of grief.

Common Types of ADCs

People report a variety of experiences, including:

Sensing a presence of the deceased nearby.

Hearing a voice or receiving a message.

Seeing an apparition or visual image of the deceased.

Dream visitations that feel unusually vivid, meaningful, or real.

Feeling a touch, such as a hand on the shoulder or a hug.

Receiving symbolic signs, such as meaningful coincidences, specific songs, scents, animals, or objects associated with the deceased.

Inner communication, where a message seems to arise in the mind unexpectedly.

How Common Are They?

Research suggests that ADCs are relatively common among bereaved individuals. Some studies have found that a significant percentage of people who have lost a loved one report at least one such experience during the grieving process.

Psychological Perspectives

Psychologists and grief researchers offer several possible explanations:

A normal part of the grieving process.

The mind’s way of maintaining a continuing bond with the deceased.

Memory, emotion, and attachment systems creating vivid experiences.

Meaning making during bereavement.

Importantly, ADCs are not automatically considered signs of mental illness. Many mentally healthy individuals report them.

Parapsychological Perspectives

Researchers in parapsychology have explored whether some ADCs might represent genuine communication from a deceased person. Evidence remains controversial, and there is no scientific consensus that survival of consciousness after death has been proven.

Characteristics Often Reported

Many experiencers describe ADCs as:

Comforting and reassuring.

Clear and vivid.

Different from ordinary imagination.

Accompanied by feelings of peace, love, or certainty.

Example

A widow may suddenly smell her late husband’s distinctive cologne when no source is present, or dream of him appearing healthy and saying, “I’m okay.” She may interpret this as an ADC.

Clinical View

Some grief counselors and mental health professionals may view ADCs as potentially meaningful experiences for the bereaved. Unless they are causing significant distress, impairment, or are accompanied by other symptoms of psychosis, they are generally not treated as pathological.

In grief counseling, ADCs may be discussed within the framework of continuing bonds, a theory suggesting that maintaining an ongoing psychological connection with a deceased loved one may be a healthy part of adapting to loss.

Shervan K Shahhian

Parapsychology: Audio Apparition (sometimes called an auditory apparition):

An audio apparition (sometimes called an auditory apparition) is an experience in which a person hears a voice, sound, music, knocking, footsteps, or other auditory phenomenon that seems to originate from a source that is not physically present.

In psychical research and parapsychology, audio apparitions may be classified as a type of apparitional experience, similar to visual apparitions but involving hearing rather than seeing.

Common Types of Audio Apparitions

  • Hearing the voice of a deceased loved one call your name.
  • Hearing footsteps in an empty room.
  • Hearing knocks, bells, or door sounds with no identifiable source.
  • Hearing music, singing, or conversations that others cannot hear.
  • Receiving a spoken message that appears meaningful or relevant to a current situation.

Psychological Explanations

Many audio apparition experiences may be explained by:

  • Misinterpretation of ordinary sounds.
  • Stress, fatigue, grief, or sleep deprivation.
  • Hypnagogic or hypnopompic states (between sleeping and waking).
  • Memory and expectation effects.
  • Certain medical or neurological conditions: Please, Consult with a Medical Doctor.

Bereavement Experiences

Research has found that some grieving individuals report hearing the voice of a deceased loved one. These experiences are often called after-death communications (ADCs) or bereavement related anomalous experiences. They are relatively common and do not necessarily indicate mental illness.

Parapsychological Perspective

Some parapsychologists have suggested that certain audio apparitions may represent:

  • Survival related phenomena (communication from deceased persons).
  • Telepathic impressions.
  • Crisis related experiences occurring around the time of a person’s death or emergency.
  • Other unexplained forms of consciousness related phenomena.

Example

A person suddenly hears their mother’s voice clearly say, “I’m okay,” shortly after learning of her death. A psychologist might explore grief related processes, while a parapsychologist might consider whether the experience could represent an anomalous communication. Both perspectives acknowledge that the experience may feel very real and emotionally significant to the experiencer.

The interpretation of audio apparitions remains controversial, with psychological explanations generally favored in mainstream science and paranormal explanations explored primarily within psychical research and parapsychology.

Shervan K Shahhian

Parapsychology: Place Related Apparitions:

Place Related Apparitions are reports of seeing, hearing, or sensing a presence that appears to be connected to a specific location rather than to a particular living person or witness.

In psychical research and folklore, these experiences are often described as recurring phenomena associated with a physical location, house, battlefield, castle, hospital, road, or other site.

Common Characteristics

The apparition is repeatedly reported in the same location.

It often appears to follow the same pattern or behavior.

It may seem unaware of observers.

Witnesses may report visual sightings, sounds, voices, footsteps, or a sensed presence.

Reports sometimes persist across many years or generations.

Examples

A figure repeatedly seen walking down a particular staircase.

A soldier reportedly appearing on a historic battlefield.

Sounds of footsteps or voices heard in a specific building.

As an example: A “lady in white” reported at the same location by multiple witnesses.

Parapsychological Interpretations

Researchers in parapsychology have proposed several explanations:

Residual Haunting Theory

The location somehow “records” past events, which are later replayed under certain conditions.

The apparition is not considered conscious or interactive.

Survival Hypothesis

The apparition represents the continued existence of a deceased person’s consciousness.

The entity may occasionally interact with witnesses.

Psi Based Explanations

Witnesses may unconsciously obtain information through psychic processes and construct an apparition experience.

This is sometimes related to the Super-Psi hypothesis.

Environmental Theories

Certain environmental conditions (lighting, acoustics, electromagnetic fields, expectation, suggestion) may contribute to unusual experiences.

Psychological Perspectives

Some Psychologists may examine:

Perception and misperception

Memory reconstruction

Suggestion and expectation

Emotional significance of places

Cultural beliefs about haunted locations

These explanations do not necessarily imply that witnesses are imagining the experience; rather, they explore how normal cognitive processes may contribute to unusual perceptions.

Research Status

Within science, there is no generally accepted evidence that place related apparitions are caused by spirits or surviving consciousness. However, such experiences remain an active area of study within the fields of parapsychology, anomalistic psychology, and consciousness research.

Place related apparitions are particularly interesting because they raise the question of whether certain locations may become associated with recurring anomalous experiences, regardless of who the witness is.

Shervan K Shahhian

Podcast Episode: Loving-Kindness Meditation (LKM), also known as Metta Meditation:

Pip: Liberty Psychological Association covers territory that most of us quietly need a map for — the inner kind.

Mara: Today we're looking at a contemplative practice with deep roots and measurable effects, courtesy of Shervan K Shahhian at Liberty Psychological Association, The Most Comprehensive Online Library Regarding Mental Health, Psychology and Parapsychology in the World. Let's start with Loving-Kindness Meditation — what it is, how it works, and why the research behind it is worth taking seriously.

Loving-Kindness Meditation: Training the Heart and Mind

Pip: The premise here is straightforward but easy to underestimate — that you can deliberately practice goodwill the way you practice anything else, and that doing so actually changes something.

Mara: The post frames it clearly from the start: "Loving-Kindness Meditation is a contemplative practice that involves intentionally cultivating feelings of goodwill, compassion, warmth, and kindness toward yourself and others."

Pip: Intentionally cultivating. That word choice matters — this isn't passive mood management. It's structured repetition with a direction.

Mara: The structure is quite specific. You begin with phrases directed at yourself — "May I be happy. May I be healthy. May I be safe. May I live with ease." — then extend those same wishes outward, moving from a loved one to a friend, a neutral person, a difficult person, and eventually all beings.

Pip: The difficult person step is the one that earns its keep. Anyone can wish a friend well on a Tuesday.

Mara: The post is careful to define what loving-kindness is not — it doesn't mean approving harmful behavior, ignoring personal boundaries, or forcing yourself to like everyone. The phrase used is "recognizing the shared humanity of all people while maintaining healthy boundaries."

Pip: Which is a useful clarification, because the practice could easily be misread as emotional bypass.

Mara: From a psychological standpoint, the post explains that repeated practice may strengthen neural pathways associated with empathy, emotional regulation, and social connection. Research suggests it can increase positive emotions, reduce self-criticism, lower stress and anger, and support overall psychological well-being.

Pip: So the upshot is: this is less about feeling warmly toward the universe and more about retraining a threat-detection system that runs a little hot by default.

Mara: That's exactly how the post frames the mechanism — counteracting the mind's tendency toward threat detection and negative mental commentary. Modern therapies including mindfulness-based interventions and compassion-focused approaches already incorporate it for exactly that reason.


Pip: Goodwill as a trainable skill — that reframe does some work.

Mara: It does. The inner architecture turns out to be more malleable than most of us assume. More on that next time.

Parapsychology: Mind to Mind Conversations or Nonverbal Communication:

Mind to Mind Conversations or nonverbal communication may mean very different things.

Psychological Perspective

In psychology, people may communicate without words through:

Facial expressions

Body language

Eye contact

Gestures

Tone of voice

Emotional cues

Some humans are remarkably good at picking up subtle signals, sometimes creating the impression that they “know what someone is thinking” without anything being said.

Intuitive or Empathic Communication

Some people report experiences where they seem to:

Sense another person’s emotions from a distance.

Know what someone is about to say.

Simultaneously think of the same idea.

Feel a strong connection with a loved one.

Psychology may explain these experiences through empathy, pattern recognition, emotional attunement, shared experiences, and coincidence.

Parapsychological Perspective

In parapsychology, mind to mind communication is called telepathy, a concept studied in fields such as:

Telepathy

Ganzfeld Experiment

Remote Viewing

Researchers have conducted experiments to investigate whether information may be transferred between minds without the known senses. Some studies have reported statistical anomalies, while critics argue that methodological issues, chance, and bias may explain the findings. As a result, telepathy remains controversial and may not accepted as a scientific fact to some.

Distinguishing the Terms

Nonverbal communication: Information conveyed through observable cues other than words.

Telepathy (mind to mind communication):

The proposed direct transfer of thoughts, feelings, or information between minds without known sensory channels.

Empathy:

Understanding or sensing another person’s emotional state, often without explicit verbal communication.

In everyday life, what feels like a “mind to mind conversation” is may be explained by nonverbal communication, emotional attunement, and shared understanding. In parapsychology, it may be interpreted as telepathic communication, although this remains a topic of ongoing debate and research.

Shervan K Shahhian

Parapsychology: Telepathic Communication is the claimed ability to transmit thoughts,…

Telepathic communication is the claimed ability to transmit thoughts, feelings, images, or information directly from one mind to another without using known sensory channels (speech, writing, gestures, technology, etc.).

It is a common topic in Parapsychology, spirituality, and paranormal research. Examples include:

  • Sensing what another person is thinking.
  • Communicating silently over a distance.
  • Sharing emotions or mental images directly.

Scientific perspective

Telepathy has been studied by researchers for more than a century, particularly in the field of parapsychology. However, no scientifically accepted evidence has demonstrated that telepathic communication exists. Experiments that appeared promising have generally been reliably replicated under certain conditions.

As a result, some neuroscience and psychology do recognize telepathy as a proven phenomenon.

Why people sometimes believe they’ve experienced telepathy

Several ordinary processes may create the impression of telepathy:

  • Strong familiarity with someone, allowing accurate predictions of their thoughts or actions.
  • Coincidences (thinking of someone just before they call).
  • Subtle nonverbal cues that are processed unconsciously.
  • Selective memory, remembering the “hits” and forgetting the many “misses.”

In fiction and culture

Telepathy is a popular ability in books, movies, and television, often portrayed as:

  • Mind to mind conversations.
  • Reading thoughts.
  • Sharing memories or emotions.

Shervan K Shahhian

Parapsychology: Phantasms of the Living:

Phantasms of the Living is the title of a book by members of the Society for Psychical Research.

What Does “Phantasms of the Living” Mean?

The term refers to apparitions, visions, or sensory experiences of living people, rather than spirits of the dead. The authors collected hundreds of reports in which a person claimed to see, hear, or sense someone who was actually alive but often far away.

Examples included:

  • Seeing a distant relative suddenly appear in a room.
  • Hearing the voice of a living person when they were not physically present.
  • Experiencing a vivid impression of someone during a crisis.

Crisis Apparitions

Some cases involved what researchers called crisis apparitions, experiences occurring when the person perceived was undergoing a serious event such as:

  • An accident
  • Severe illness
  • Emotional distress
  • Death or near death situations

The researchers wondered whether these experiences might reflect some form of telepathic communication rather than spirit visitation.

Interpretation

Some proposed that some apparitions of living persons might be explained by:

  • Telepathy (mind to mind influence)
  • Unconscious psychological processes
  • Coincidence in some cases

They did not claim that all reports proved paranormal phenomena, but they argued that certain cases deserved scientific investigation.

Modern Perspectives

Today, some psychologists might explain such experiences through factors such as:

  • Memory distortions
  • Expectation and suggestion
  • Stress and emotional arousal
  • Sleep-related experiences
  • Coincidence and selective recall

Parapsychologists, however, still regard Phantasms of the Living as a landmark work because it was one of the first systematic attempts to collect and analyze spontaneous apparition reports.

Historical Importance

The book remains influential in:

  • Parapsychology
  • Psychical Research
  • Studies of apparitions and anomalous experiences
  • Research on telepathy and consciousness

For some historians, Phantasms of the Living represents the beginning of large-scale, evidence gathering research into spontaneous paranormal experiences rather than relying solely on folklore or anecdotal ghost stories.

Shervan K Shahhian