A New Science of the Paranormal: The Promise of Psychical Research

Popular culture is bursting at the seams with its vigorous fascination of the paranormal. Haunting apparitions, psychic mediums and mystical divinations are captivating motion pictures, cable television and bookstands at ever-increasing rates. Despite this paranormal explosion, the scientific community has done shockingly little to progress in its efforts to explain the unexplained. Hard factual evidence for telepathy, clairvoyance and precognition does exist; sadly, its voice has been stifled by deficient psychical research. But there is hope… A New Science of the Paranormal is the highly passionate and astute appeal of acclaimed psychologist and bestselling author Dr. Lawrence LeShan. This deeply affecting and hardnosed argument implores readers to recognize the crucial need to pursue a scientific understanding of psychic phenomenon. A New Science of the Paranormal incorporates powerfully persuasive empirical findings with gripping, yet heartfelt, documented psychic events to deliver a fresh look into the astonishing mystery of the human potential. LeShan goes above and beyond a mere call to action by explaining, not just what the scientific community must begin doing, but why they have failed to in the first place. LeShan demonstrates how researchers’ reliance on classical scientific method has left them largely defective in their approach. Mainstream science has been reluctant to realize that, although controlled experiments do provide scientific proof of the psychical, the laboratory is an unsuitable channel for acquiring sizeable results. The old ways of doing science aren’t working, and what’s at stake is far too critical to sit idly by! As LeShan so poignantly declares, “We desperately need a new concept of what is a human being if we are to stop killing each other and poisoning our only planet.” Psychical research contains the promise for this ‘new concept’. Far more than the gratification of pop novelty, psychical research contains the key for discovering man’s highest potential, the kind of far-reaching transformation our planet so desperately needs. A New Science of the Paranormal is an absolute must read for the skeptic, the believer and for hopeful humans at large.

133 pages

About the author: "Do not worry about what the world wants of you. Worry about what makes you come alive because what the world needs is people who are more alive." —Lawrence LeShan Lawrence LeShan, Ph.D., is a psychologist and parapsychologist. He is a leading pioneer in the exploration of meditation and is internationally acclaimed for his extensive research in the psychological factors of cancer patients, for which he has been dubbed “The father of mind-body medicine”. Dr. LeShan is a bestselling author and has written a wide-ranging series of books on science, medicine, and psychology. He has published sixteen books, includingCancer As A Turning PointandHow to Meditate(which have both become classics in their fields), andYou Can Fight for Your Life, an early work about psychology and cancer. His books have been translated into fourteen languages. He has also published approximately 100 papers in numerous professional journals including the Journal of the National Cancer Institute, Journal of Nervous and Mental Disorders, American Archive of Psychiatry, American Journal of Psychotherapy, Advances in Mind-Body Medicine, and numerous other professional journals. Dr. LeShan has directed several research projects, and received professional awards: the Normal Cousins Award for Development of Human Relations in Psychology and Medicine, the Center for Integrative Cancer Therapies Award for Advancing Patient Participation in Their Own Treatment, the Pathfinder Award from the Association of Humanistic Psychology, and the Gardener Murphy Award. Originally a skeptic in his attitude to paranormal phenomena, Dr. LeShan devoted some 500 hours to testing the famous psychic Eileen Garrett and was particularly impressed by her powers in the field of psychometry. He also produced a special study of psychic healing and since 1970 has held training seminars in New York for psychologists and students. Dr. LeShan is a member of the American Psychical Research Society and has written a number of articles for its publication. Lawrence LeShan, Ph.D., born September 8, 1920, in New York City. He holds a B.A. from College of William and Mary, an M.S. from the University of Nebraska and a Ph.D. from University of Chicago. He served in the U.S. Army from 1943-46 and 1950-52. He has served as the chief of the department of psychology at the Institute of Applied Biography in New York (1954-64) and as a research associate at the Ayer Foundation, Inc., New York (1954-70).