A webinar titled ‘Unravelling Psychic Phenomena’ was organized by the Department of Psychology, School of Social Work Roshni Nilaya, Mangaluru for the first and third year BA students of Psychology from 3 pm to 5 pm on 19th June 2021 via Google meet platform.
The resource person, Asst. Prof. Mahesh B.S., (Clinical Psychologist) from the Department of Psychiatry, Kasturba Medical College, Attavar, Mangaluru was heartily introduced by Miss. Donna Sharon Dsouza (III BA). Prof. Mahesh began his presentation by giving the meaning of Parapsychology, the history of this explored branch of Psychology which was lost but revived due to various TV shows and social media. To understand the knowledge base of the participants on the subject matter, a goggle form was sent across, the results were shared and discussed.
Prof. Mahesh said that Frank Anton Mesmer’s ‘Mesmerism’ (now known as hypnotic trance) and spiritualism led to the foundation of Parapsychology. He then showed a short video of the Fox Sisters who used to communicate with spirits using ‘rappings’. Showing two photographs, he asked the participants whether they saw anything paranormal in it and gave details on Kirlian photography effects.
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Miss. Niketha Giri (I BA) volunteered to be a part of the first experiment conducted by Prof. Mahesh. Prof. Mahesh requested her to keep repeating the brand of her phone in her head without thinking of anything else in between, and despite being thousands of miles away, he accurately declared her phone brand. The Hebbian theory was illustrated, which is commonly described as "cells that fire together wire together."
Prof. Mahesh mentioned the four mediums namely Daniel Home, Leonora Piper, Helene Smith and Charles Bailey whose case reports and investigations by the American Society for Psychical Research (ASPR) brought about a revolution in the history of paranormal phenomena. After having participants complete out google forms pertaining to the understanding some occurrences, he gave a quick overview of Telepathy and its various varieties, Pre-cognition, Clairvoyance, Psychokinesis, and Near-Death Experiences.
The next experiment was on Pre-cognition and Miss. Donna enthusiastically volunteered. He asked her to pick any even number below 10. She picked 6 and he took a bunch of cards from a set of playing cards and flipped it 6 times. The resource person chose the top 7 cards and kept them on a board. He told Miss. Donna to think of a number between 1 and 7 while he wrote the type of card she would pick on a piece of paper. He then kept the chit in front of the camera and asked her to say the number out loud, which was 2. Picking the second card, the resource person showed it to everyone, which was the 3 diamonds. Then he opened the chit which read ‘3 of diamonds’! Precognition was virtually demonstrated. A gist of famous studies on Parapsychology was enumerated.
Prof. Mahesh concluded quoting Paul Davies, “The nineteenth century was known as the machine age, the twentieth century will go down in history as the information age. I believe the twenty-first century will be the quantum age.” The resource person expressed that the extensive quantum theory determines the probability and statistics of parapsychology. At the same time, it shows that the present theory of parapsychology is incomplete and requires new research.
The Q&A session was initiated by Dr. Sandra Lobo, where she wanted to know Prof. Mahesh’s take on the process of ‘dowsing’, which is locating ground water without using any scientific apparatus. He said that the mechanism used in it is similar to the one used in Ouija boards and spoke on the ideomotor phenomenon. Miss. Donna then asked whether the video showing the actor Sushant Singh Rajput communicating through a medium after his death was factual or not. The resource person said that it is not possible based on scientific research.
After a few more questions were answered, Miss. Aysha Shahama (I BA) thanked Prof. Mahesh. The ‘outstanding’ alumnus offered a super(not)natural webinar. The 80 participants were amazed at the knowledge of the resource person and his demonstrations. Some participants may not have believed in psychic phenomena, but as Gordon Stein said, “We should always keep an open mind about any new phenomenon in nature. To merely say that’s impossible, therefore it doesn’t exist, is to commit a serious error.”
