My Library

In the end, several complicated experiments were designed. But I will now single out one of them in detail -- because it was the mother lode of much of what was to come in the years ahead. A written report of this experiment was produced on July 26, 1972, entitled "Report of an Out-of-Body Experiment Conducted at the American Society for Psychical Research: Participants: Dr. Carole Silfen, Janet Mitchell, Ingo Swann." The report was prepared "for record purposes only. For several reasons it cannot be considered a test-perfect experiment in the traditional sense of experimentation, and thus must be disqualified from that area of interest. From the study of the phenomenon, however, several important effects have become both visible and possibly measurable." The report begins with an overview, called SITUATION 1. "On the assumption that there is an out-of-body phenomenon at hand to be studied concerning discovery of characteristics of the phenomenon, it is to be assumed also that the point or vehicle of perception exterior to the body must assume, at different locations, the functions performed by the visual system and the brain in the body. "Within the body/visual system it should be noted that the sense of vision is owing to the effect of light on the retina of the eye. "Only vibrations [frequencies] of light over an extremely limited range of the electromagnetic spectrum are capable of stimulating the human retina. The mechanism of sight depends upon rays of light reflecting from objects. "These rays of light are bent by the cornea so as to fall on the retina. The brain interprets the size, shape and distance of the objects seen.