MYSTERIES OF THE MIND
SBN 490004245
Of all Soviet research relating to parapsychology, however indirectly, the most
publicized is the process known as Kirlian photography. Using high-frequency electrical
currents, Semyon and Valentina Kirlian discovered some 30 years ago that they
could obtain pictures of living organisms that showed a surrounding aura of luminescence.
This aura, which is called a ' bioplasmic body," may be the same force field
recently detected and measured by such scientists as Gulyaiev and Sergeyev (See
also paranormal electrical conduction).
Theorists have conjectured that all living things possess a bioplasmic body. Kirlian
photographs of leaves have clearly shown visible energy radiating from them, and
variations in the aura of leaves of the same species have been proved to signal
the onset of disease in a plant before the disease became visible by normal means.
Similarly, changes in the aura of a human being may indicate changes in his mental
and physical state.
Western parapsychologists have on the whole been slow to follow
up the theory of a bioplasmic body, and have pointed out possible
alternative explanations of the Kirlian effect. For example, Dr.
Montague Ullman pointed out in an interview in Psychic magazine
that some physicists believe the luminescence may be produced
by ionization of the atmosphere. This caution on the part of Western
investigators toward the bioplasma theory is understandable when
one considers its resemblance to the ancient belief in an astral
body coexisting with the physical body. The Kirlians' discoveries,
and those of some other researchers in the Communist world, appear
to support a belief generally regarded as a superstition by scientists
in both the West and the East.
Nevertheless, the photographing and measuring of this force field,
whatever its fundamental nature, may turn out to have important
implications for parapsychology. It seems likely that this energy
lies behind PK effects, and it may also play a part in psychic
healing and even ESP. In the years ahead, even more exciting developments
in parapsychology may emerge from laboratories in the Communist
countries.
Above: Dr. Thelma Moss. who has taken more Kirlian photographs
and done more experimental work with them than anyone outside
Russia.
Above: a Kirlian photo taken by Dr. Moss of Uri Geller's finger
sending a burst of energy during one of his demonstrations. Uri
Geller offers scientists the hope of a repeatable psychic experiment.
and as a result he has spent days in laboratories with scientists
all over the world.
Above: Geller's finger at rest.
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