From the Archives: White Crow or Black Crow?

[First posted 10/2010]

In the preface to his well-written book, The Articulate Dead, Mike Tymn, distinguished editor of The Searchlight of the Academy of Spirituality and Paranormal Studies shares a comment that researcher Dr. Gary Schwartz made to him, which is that most reporters present with only two opinions, the medium and the debunker; when there are really three sides -- the medium, the skeptic, and the researcher, "...who should begin as a skeptic." (p. xvii) Mike says he sees most of those wearing the "skeptic" badge are really pseudoskeptics, the "fundamentalists of science who are as closeminded as the fundamentalists of religion." They can pick holes here and there, which is not an exact science in itself, but still stuck in their paradigm and taking on a certain "intellectual arrogance." (p. xix)

Quoting from The Risen --

"And yet, we do need skeptics. There are scientists who maintain a healthy measure of skepticism about skepticism, and remain open while questioning. This openness has led to emerging, revolutionary scientific models, such as R. A. White’s Experiential Paradigm.⁽¹⁾ Inspired in part by psychologist Abraham Maslow’s classic work on cognitive-being and his insights from what he called exceptional “plateau” or “peak” human experiences, White asserts that there’s a form of knowing that can only come from having been immersed in a particular experience. This means that the worldview of a medium can only be objectively analyzed after the analyzer has also subjectively experienced it. Mediumistic experiences often take place outside the constraints of space and time and therefore may pose serious challenges to those scientists who have always relied on such matrices in their laboratories. (p. 33)

One might not see evidence of mediumship anywhere, if not seeing and discerning the evidence with the eyes and mind of a medium.

The Risen itself is not a book manifested for the Professional Skeptic, but for those seeking their own white crow through their being drawn, by spiritual inspiration, toward something higher and finer, which is ultimately within the seeker/researcher. One could venture that the "vasty deep" material of Shakespeare may also have thus been manifested, exceptionally spiritually inspired, evidenced by the great time spent on energetic and robust reactions and responses to its stories and characters, as it continues to stimulate even modern humankind, with its unremitting instance for instant gratification.

(1) White, Rhea A., “Exceptional Human Experience and the Experiential Paradigm,” ReVision, 1995; #182, 18-25.