Post by bluefedish on Jan 10, 2008 18:33:43 GMT -5
The term psycholkinesis (from the Greek "psyche", meaning mind, soul, or breath; and "kinesis", meaning motion; literally "movement from the mind), also known as telekinesis (Greek literally "distant-movement"), sometimes abbreviated PK and TK respectively, denotes the purported ability of the mind to influence matter, time, space, or energy by means outside the currently known laws of physics. Examples of psycholkinesis could include distorting or moving an object, or influencing the output of a random number generator. The study of phenomena said to be psycholkinetic is an aspect of parapsychology. Some paranormal researchers believe that psycholkinesis exists and deserves further study, pointing to experimental results such as those done using randomnumber generators. Skeptics contend that psycholkinesis doesn't really exist, but only appears to exist due to publication bias, fraud, delusion, statistical manipulation of scientific data, or other naturally explainable phenomena. psycholkinesis is popular in some entertainment movies and TV programs featuring paranormal, fantasy, religious, and horror themes; written fiction; and computer games.
Early History
The term "Telekinesis" was coined in 1890 by Russian psychical researcher Alexander N. Aksakof. The term "Psychokinesis" was coined in 1914 by American author-publisher Henry Holt in his book On the Cosmic Relations and adopted by his friend, American parapsychologist J. B. Rhine in 1934 in connection with experiments to determine if a person could influence the outcome of falling dice. Both terms have been described by other names, such as "remote influencing", "distant influencing" "remote mental influence", "distant mental influence", "directed conscious intention", " anomalous perturbation", and "mind over matter." Originally telekinesis was coined to refer to the movement of objects thought to be caused by ghosts of deceased persons, mischievous spirit s, angels, demons, or other supernatural forces. Later when speculation increased that humans might be the source of the witnessed phenomena (that which was not caused by fraudulent mediums) and could possibly cause movement without any connection to a spiritualistic setting, such as in a darkened séance room, psychokinesis was added to the lexicon, this distinction has been made to differentiate between the earlier use of the term telekinesis. Eventually, psychokinesis was the preferred term by the parapsychological community (and still is) and it was suggested that telekinesis become obsolete. Popular culture, however, such as movies, television, and literature, over the years preferred telekinesis to describe the paranormal movement of objects likely due to the word's resemblance to other terms, such as telepathy, teleportation, telephone and television.
Modern Usage
As research entered the modern era, it became clear that many different, but related, abilities could be attributed to the wider description of psychokinesis and telekinesis is now regarded as one of the specialties of PK . In the 2004 U.S. Air Force-sponsored research report Teleportation Physics Study, the physicist-author Eric Davis, PhD, described the classification of PK and TK by writing that "telekinesis is a form of PK." Psychokinesis, then, is the general term that can be used to describe a variety of complex mental force phenomena (including object movement) and telekinesis is used to refer only to the movement of objects, however tiny (a grain of salt or air molecules to create wind) or large ( an automobile, building, or bridge). Hypothetically, a person could have very profound telekinetic ability, but not be able to produce any of the additional effects found in psychokinesis, such as softening the metal of a sthingy to allow its bending with minimal physical force. Conversely, someone who has succeeded in psychokinetically softening metal once or a number of times may exhibit no telekinetic ability to move objects.
Umbrella Term
Psychokinesis is the umbrella term under which are various related paranormal abilities. This listing is no claim to the existence or nonexistence of such abilities in the real world, merely that such could be considered a subset of Psychokinesis. Such abilities include:
* Telekinesis; movement of matter (micro and macro; move, lift, agitate, vibrate, spin, bend, break, or impact)
** speed up or slow down the naturally occurring vibrations of atoms in matter to alter temperature, possibly to the point of ignition if combustible (also known as pyrokinesis and cryokinesis respectively).
** Aerokinesis, the telekinetic subspecialty of being able to control the movement of air molecules specifically.
** Self levitation (including flying).
* Object deformation (including metal softening and bending).
* Influencing events.
* Biological healing.
* Teleportation (disappearing and reappearing elsewhere).
* Phasing through matter.
* Transmutation of matter.
* Shape-shifting.
* Energy shield (force field).
* Control of magnetism.
* Control of photons (light waves/particles).
* Thoughtform projection (a physically perceived person, animal, creature , object, ghostly entity, etc., created in the mind and projected into three-dimensional space and observable by others; for thought images allegedly placed on film, see Thoughtography).
Notable Claimants of Psychokinetic or Telekinetic Ability
* Uri Geller (1946 – ), the Israeli famous for his sthingy bending demonstrations, allegedly by PK.
* Nina Kulagina (1926 – 1990), alleged Soviet psychic of the late 1960s and early 1970s.
* Felicia Parise, an American medical laboratory technician who allegedly was able to repeatedly demonstrate telekinetic movement of small objects beginning in the 1970s, in the first reported instance spontaneously, and then with practice by intense conscious intention. She said her inspiration for making the attempt was in viewing the black-and-white films of Nina Kulagina performing similar feats. Some of the items Parise reportedly caused movement in were a plastic pill container, compass needle, and pieces of aluminum foil (the latter two under a bell jar filmed by a magician). During the height of her fame in the early 1970s , the National Enquirer tabloid newspaper in the United States, then printed in all black and white, featured her in a large photo on its cover seated at a table attempting to perform telekinesis with the headline: "First American to Move Objects with the Mind." Parise eventually retired from performing telekinesis due to the physical stress on her body.
* Eusapia Palladino (alternate spelling: Eusapia Paladino; 1854 - 1918) was an Italian medium who allegedly could cause objects to move during seances and was endorsed by world famous magician Howard Thurston (1869 – 1936), who witnessed her levitation of a table.
* Swami Rama (1925 – 1996), a yogi skilled in controlling his heart functions who was studied at the Menninger Foundation in the spring and fall of 1970, and was alleged by some observers at the foundation to have telekinetically moved a knitting needle twice from a distance of five feet. Although Swami Rama wore a facemask and gown to prevent allegations that he moved the needle with his breath or body movements, and air vents in the room had been covered, at least one physician observer who was present at the time was not convinced and expressed the opinion that air movement was somehow the cause. The test device was an uncovered, balanced knitting needle (one of two glued on top of each other at right angles) positioned under a floodlight in a room where incense had been burned prior to the test.
Selected Source:
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Psychokinesis
Early History
The term "Telekinesis" was coined in 1890 by Russian psychical researcher Alexander N. Aksakof. The term "Psychokinesis" was coined in 1914 by American author-publisher Henry Holt in his book On the Cosmic Relations and adopted by his friend, American parapsychologist J. B. Rhine in 1934 in connection with experiments to determine if a person could influence the outcome of falling dice. Both terms have been described by other names, such as "remote influencing", "distant influencing" "remote mental influence", "distant mental influence", "directed conscious intention", " anomalous perturbation", and "mind over matter." Originally telekinesis was coined to refer to the movement of objects thought to be caused by ghosts of deceased persons, mischievous spirit s, angels, demons, or other supernatural forces. Later when speculation increased that humans might be the source of the witnessed phenomena (that which was not caused by fraudulent mediums) and could possibly cause movement without any connection to a spiritualistic setting, such as in a darkened séance room, psychokinesis was added to the lexicon, this distinction has been made to differentiate between the earlier use of the term telekinesis. Eventually, psychokinesis was the preferred term by the parapsychological community (and still is) and it was suggested that telekinesis become obsolete. Popular culture, however, such as movies, television, and literature, over the years preferred telekinesis to describe the paranormal movement of objects likely due to the word's resemblance to other terms, such as telepathy, teleportation, telephone and television.
Modern Usage
As research entered the modern era, it became clear that many different, but related, abilities could be attributed to the wider description of psychokinesis and telekinesis is now regarded as one of the specialties of PK . In the 2004 U.S. Air Force-sponsored research report Teleportation Physics Study, the physicist-author Eric Davis, PhD, described the classification of PK and TK by writing that "telekinesis is a form of PK." Psychokinesis, then, is the general term that can be used to describe a variety of complex mental force phenomena (including object movement) and telekinesis is used to refer only to the movement of objects, however tiny (a grain of salt or air molecules to create wind) or large ( an automobile, building, or bridge). Hypothetically, a person could have very profound telekinetic ability, but not be able to produce any of the additional effects found in psychokinesis, such as softening the metal of a sthingy to allow its bending with minimal physical force. Conversely, someone who has succeeded in psychokinetically softening metal once or a number of times may exhibit no telekinetic ability to move objects.
Umbrella Term
Psychokinesis is the umbrella term under which are various related paranormal abilities. This listing is no claim to the existence or nonexistence of such abilities in the real world, merely that such could be considered a subset of Psychokinesis. Such abilities include:
* Telekinesis; movement of matter (micro and macro; move, lift, agitate, vibrate, spin, bend, break, or impact)
** speed up or slow down the naturally occurring vibrations of atoms in matter to alter temperature, possibly to the point of ignition if combustible (also known as pyrokinesis and cryokinesis respectively).
** Aerokinesis, the telekinetic subspecialty of being able to control the movement of air molecules specifically.
** Self levitation (including flying).
* Object deformation (including metal softening and bending).
* Influencing events.
* Biological healing.
* Teleportation (disappearing and reappearing elsewhere).
* Phasing through matter.
* Transmutation of matter.
* Shape-shifting.
* Energy shield (force field).
* Control of magnetism.
* Control of photons (light waves/particles).
* Thoughtform projection (a physically perceived person, animal, creature , object, ghostly entity, etc., created in the mind and projected into three-dimensional space and observable by others; for thought images allegedly placed on film, see Thoughtography).
Notable Claimants of Psychokinetic or Telekinetic Ability
* Uri Geller (1946 – ), the Israeli famous for his sthingy bending demonstrations, allegedly by PK.
* Nina Kulagina (1926 – 1990), alleged Soviet psychic of the late 1960s and early 1970s.
* Felicia Parise, an American medical laboratory technician who allegedly was able to repeatedly demonstrate telekinetic movement of small objects beginning in the 1970s, in the first reported instance spontaneously, and then with practice by intense conscious intention. She said her inspiration for making the attempt was in viewing the black-and-white films of Nina Kulagina performing similar feats. Some of the items Parise reportedly caused movement in were a plastic pill container, compass needle, and pieces of aluminum foil (the latter two under a bell jar filmed by a magician). During the height of her fame in the early 1970s , the National Enquirer tabloid newspaper in the United States, then printed in all black and white, featured her in a large photo on its cover seated at a table attempting to perform telekinesis with the headline: "First American to Move Objects with the Mind." Parise eventually retired from performing telekinesis due to the physical stress on her body.
* Eusapia Palladino (alternate spelling: Eusapia Paladino; 1854 - 1918) was an Italian medium who allegedly could cause objects to move during seances and was endorsed by world famous magician Howard Thurston (1869 – 1936), who witnessed her levitation of a table.
* Swami Rama (1925 – 1996), a yogi skilled in controlling his heart functions who was studied at the Menninger Foundation in the spring and fall of 1970, and was alleged by some observers at the foundation to have telekinetically moved a knitting needle twice from a distance of five feet. Although Swami Rama wore a facemask and gown to prevent allegations that he moved the needle with his breath or body movements, and air vents in the room had been covered, at least one physician observer who was present at the time was not convinced and expressed the opinion that air movement was somehow the cause. The test device was an uncovered, balanced knitting needle (one of two glued on top of each other at right angles) positioned under a floodlight in a room where incense had been burned prior to the test.
Selected Source:
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Psychokinesis
