By Roop Kunwar Singh
Have you ever had an experience where a hunch or an intuition turned out to be true? Have you ever felt an uncanny sense of recognition towards a person or a place (or object), although you might well be meeting that person or visiting that place or coming in contact PHYSICALLY for the first time? Have you ever felt a strange sense of communication with a person you know, although they might be miles apart at that moment? Most of us tend to attribute such experiences to coincidence, imagination or maybe even hallucination. Some of us treat them as a matter of fortune or, as the case may be, misfortune. Some of the more hardcore believers lay it down as an act of divinity. But have you ever wondered that there might be a more profound reason behind such instances. Something more universal, something more controllable, something more “Scientific”?
NOETIC Science (or Noetics as many say), the most recent stream out of the perennial river of science, has emerged as a potential answer to all these mysteries. For a long period, Noetics has been identified as a branch of metaphysical philosophy, concerning the study of mind and intellect. But more and more sophistication in techniques and the ever rising curiosity towards the subject (especially from scientists) has led science to open its doors to noetics.
Noetic science, inter-alia, aims to provide scientific explanation to phenomenon such as Extra Sensory Perceptions (ESP), Psycho kinesis, Pre-sentiment, Lucid Dreaming and many more. The most basic ideology on which Noetic science is based is that our thoughts are individual identities (While neuroscience defines them as electric activity within the brain). It is believed that they can travel directly from one brain to another (telepathy) and if concentrated to a certain level, they can even alter the physical state of matter (telekinesis). Noetic science also contemplates that along with the five senses (Objective means), the human brain also possesses other means (subjective means) of acquiring information, which makes our insights, intuitions and hunches much more than just random brain activity.
Scientists all over the world have been intrigued by the potential of Noetics. Experiments are being carried out on in large numbers, with the ESP card test being the most popular technique to observe results for Clairvoyance (ability to obtain information about objects, places through means other than the five senses). This test requires the use of a pack of 25 cards (5 each with a visual of a circle, a cross, three vertical wavy lines, a square and a star). The technique involves picking up of cards randomly by one person and another person guessing the visual without receiving any hint from the picker. The results, though not conclusive, have been favourable and been replicated a fair number of times.
Researchers have also placed Random Number Generators (RNBs) at different places around the world. They generate digit 0 or 1 and are said to be influenced by the thoughts of people around it. This experiment bore fruits when it was observed that the results tended to be particularly biased towards one digit post the 9/11 tragedy, pointing towards global consciousness while in normal circumstance, the results were pretty close to 50-50.
While RNBs are still recent, the concept of noetics has long been attracting scientific attraction. In 1907, Dr. Duncan MacDougli created quite a stir by claiming that the weight of one of his patients fell by 3/4th of an ounce precisely at the time of that patient’s death. He speculated the departure of soul from the body as the reason.
Hundreds and thousands of such experiments have been conducted over the last 100 years and many more are in order. Results have been optimistic but scientists are still waiting for that one breakthrough which will break the ice and give a profound boost to the belief in Noetic Science. The sceptics have been repeatedly putting up the argument that although there have been claims of a number of ‘probable positive results’, there is not a single absolute result which could ratify the claims of Noetic science. They are questioning that why not even a single human being has come up and exemplify a control over psi (psychic faculties)? Why?
Why? Well, maybe because our approach is flawed. Maybe, Noetic Science is not about finding the answers. Maybe it’s about fathoming the questions. Maybe, it’s not about the destination but the expedition itself. Maybe someone has even unravelled this mystery but hasn’t come out because they realize that the world is not yet ready. Then again, if we go by rational thinking, these questions don’t even matter, for logic tells us that all this is just a hoax but as Albert Einstein once remarked:
“Logic will take you from A to B,
Imagination will take you Everywhere”
