From: gisle@ifi.uio.no (Gisle Hannemyr)
Subject: Re: "Why can't I say It's a crock of shit?"
Organization: gisle@ifi.uio.no
	<1992Nov16.205441.4107@memstvx1.memst.edu>
	<1eclt9INNiiq@iskut.ucs.ubc.ca>
Date: Mon, 23 Nov 1992 09:51:26 GMT
Originator: gisle@gyda.ifi.uio.no

In article <1eclt9INNiiq@iskut.ucs.ubc.ca> nistuk@unixg.ubc.ca (Richard Nistuk) writes:
> Now I open one of these "success" and I find stories similar
> to the one noted here by John Holifield
> (from the article <1992Nov16.205441.4107@memstvx1.memst.edu> 
> isds11990012@memstvx1.memst.edu--John Holifield):

>> I was talking to my girlfriend on the phone one evening while she was
>> studying.  I went exterior and went in to her house.  I could clearly
>> percieve the books and things that she was using to study.  I also
>> knew what page she was on, what the words on the page were, etc.  On
>> one occasion, I even knew what words she was reading at a particular
>> instance.

>>      Another time I was walking to the parking lot from school.  I had
>> to walk by the music building, and as I went by, I noticed that the 
>> Suzuki violin class was having a performance inside the building.  I moved
>> my body into the building  and waited for the performance to end.  It was
>> a really good performance by the way.  

>> 					Anyway, when it was over, I left the
>> building and it had started to rain.  I thought I would just wait untill
>> the rain quit, and then I would cross the street to the parking lot.  I
>> noticed that a lady and her two kids were about to cross the street.
>> They didn't have an umbrella,  and I knew they would get wet.  I decided
>> to change my considerations and do something about the rain, so that the
>> children and the lady wouldn't get wet. The lady looked at me and asked,
>> "Are you waiting for it to stop raining?"  I made a Tone-40 postulate and
>> said, "No, it is waiting for me."  The rain stopped instantly and we all
>> crossed the street. As soon as we were all in our cars, I allowed the 
>> rain to start again.

> So after reading a few _stories_ like this, about all
> these peoples "wins" do you know what I'm going to say?  Sure you
> do!  I'm going to say:
>
>	   "that's nice, but I wanted proof, not the winners of
>           your creative writing contest!"

Actually, I don't think the problem is that John Holifield is lying.
I -- at least -- believe him.  He has experienced those situations as
he described them.  They are true to him.

But, unfortunately, this does not mean that I belive he has aquired
the paranormal powers that his stories suggests he has.

When a person belives in something as strongly as John Holifield
believes in Scientology, strange things happens in the human mind.

People start (unconsciously) to select evidence and he vividly
remembers the time when he managed to control the rain.  He forgets
all about the many times he wanted the rain to stop and nothing
happened.

People are also capable of using clues lurking below their
consciousness.  They may have forgotten about that poster they saw a
couple of days ago for the violin performance.  But their
subconsciousness remember, and gives a vivid rendition of the ongoing
performance when the believer "exteriorizes".

And, while John is not lying, what about his girlfriend?  She knows
how important this is for John, so when John phones her up to check
whether he got the right page number in his exterior condition, she
may decide to humour him and perhaps increase ARC(tm) a little by
agreeing with his version of reality, even tho' she really is reading
a completely different page.

What I really can't understand is why John Holifield, if he really
believes he has these amazing powers, doesn't set up _one_ proper
experiment with proper controls.  For starters, he shouldn't be too
complicated: Get a friend to open a dictionary at a random page --
copy the first word that appear on a page onto a piece of cardboard,
leaving it in plain view and then leaving and locking the room.  (Note
-- to prevent unconscious clues from being passed, the friend should
not be in the same room as John until the experiment is over).  John
should remain in an adjacent room and exteriorize, read the word and
write it down.  John & friend should then unlock the room with the
cardboard, and the two words compared.  A summary should be posted
to this newsgroup.

So John, how about it?  Do you think you can do this for us?

I know some people have accused you of lying, but I belive that
you are a honest person (but with a largr that average capacity
for self-deception), and promise to take your report on such a
controlled experiment seriously.

--
Meta-disclaimer: A society that needs disclaimers has too many lawyers.
 
- gisle hannemyr  (Norsk Regnesentral)
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