18 September 2011

Supercallafragilistic

Tonight I'm avoiding hubbub about the Queenslander who's charmingly reported as indicating that he's a "resurrected" Son of God (one associate is a "resurrected" Mary Magdalene; alas no sign so far of a resurrected Pontius Pilate or Emperor Tiberius, whom we could quiz about the historicity of accounts by Tacitus and Dio Cassius) and reading 'Holistic healing as fresh evidence for collective consciousness' by Maria Sági in - but of course - 48(1) World Futures (1997).

That journal is of interest for its ERA ranking (so much for academic quality control?) and its history of articles expounding the 'truth' of remote healing, reincarnation, dowsing and other expressions of parapsychology. ERA is critiqued in Simon Cooper & Anna Poletti, 'The new ERA of journal ranking: The consequences of Australia's fraught encounter with 'quality'', 53(1) Australian Universities Review (2011) 57.

A generous response to the article would be that there is evidence and that there is, um, what sceptics dub 'evidence'. Facts in science and faith are contested. Sági states that -
Holistic healing in its several thousand years old history presupposes the existence of a transpersonal informational field accessible to all human beings as well as to all organisms.

The self-maintaining and self-healing properties of the organism rely on information from this field. Self-healing occurs by a matching of the morpho-dynamic pattern of the individual with the species-specific pattern accessed though the field. Natural healers perceive a mismatch between the morpho-dynamic pattern of a patient and the species-specific pattern in the field and use a number of different methods (homeopathy, new homeopathy, healing methods ranging from classical radioesthetic methods to sophisticated devices such as the Radionic devices) for correcting the mismatch.

This contrasts with the bio-chemical comparative causal method of classical Western medicine. A more detailed analysis of holistic healing in all its variants can lead to a closer identification of the working of the collective informational field that connects all members of the human species.
The collective information field is, of course, that promoted by Ervin Laszlo, the World Futures editor and enthusiast for notions that we can communicate with the dead (who in his view are not actually dead, just not in a conveniently material form) via valve radios or that the brains of the elite are becoming quantum wave transceivers (presumably quite useful now that corner shops don't stock thermionic valves for that must-do chat with the undead).

Oh, if it was only so simple ... and if magic touch, remote healing or other flavours of mystic medicine could make amputated limbs reappear!

Sági appears to like simplicity, encapsulating her claims with the statement that -
In the language of today's sciences, it is the uninterruptedly regenerating energy of the transpersonal information field that safeguards or restores the health of the human being.
Let's not quibble with complaints that no one, other than the true believers, has found hard evidence of the information field or its disruption. (Does wearing an alfoil beanie stop the field from "safeguarding" health and thereby induce illness? Regrettably I can't say, as alfoil isn't my favourite headware.)

Ditto that few scientists would use the "language" of the "uninterruptedly regenerating energy of the transpersonal information field".

Sági goes on to explain that -
In the case of distance healing the morpho-dynamic pattern of the patient is effected. The healer sends into the field a vibration that is "understood" by the pathogenic zones of the morpho-dynamic pattern. These are able to absorb it and thereby capable of autonomously matching themselves to the species-specific pattern. This is what happens when we obtain the healer's help to start the self-healing process.

In the case of normal, direct healing, the healer works through the organism of the patient. He, too, targets the morpho-dynamic pattern, but does it through the organism to which he imparts information in the form of geometrical signs and/or homeopathic remedies. These are perceived by the organism in the subtle-energetic realm and are automatically transferred to the morpho-dynamic pattern. Once the information has been received, the morpho-dynamic pattern is capable of the constant matching to the species-specific pattern autonomously. This corresponds to full recovery.
But wait, there's more. Sági - a member of Laszlo's Club of Budapest and one-time editor of World Futures - explains that the "psi-field "involves "the quantum vacuum" forming "a transpersonal information field" that links all people across space and time.
How is the holistic healer helped by psi-field perception in his diagnosis? The clairvoyant healer can establish distance diagnosis without difficulty. He fine-tunes his consciousness to his patient, and his perception matches the morpho-dynamic pattern of the patient to the species-specific pattern of the field.

The pathological regions of the pattern transmit different frequencies. Like little lamps lighting up, they call attention to themselves with their vibration. All a clear-sighted healer has to do is to read the signs of the morpho-dynamic pattern and he or she will know what the trouble is, and even the way to enable the organism to start its self-healing processes.

The non-clairvoyant healer uses auxiliary means for this purpose. Aware of his or her own endowments, he or she will choose the means accordingly. He may use his hand, or various radio-esthetic instruments — a pendulum, a dowsing rod — or even sophisticated instruments like Radionic devices. While examining the patient he fine-tunes his consciousness to successive minor areas, since he does not have the full picture. Yet, with long practice he may come to the same diagnosis as the clairvoyant healer: he will match the morpho-dynamic pattern of the patient to the species-specific pattern in the field. But not his psi-field perception, but the moving of a dowsing rod (or other instrument) will show him the pathological deviations.
Oops, if you're going to channel Madame Blavatsky or Edgar Cayce or Cleopatra or Marie Antoinette in discovering someone's tumour or broken bones it's best to have your dowsing implement or the "radionic device". If you practice substantive medicine, however, you might want to rely on aspirin, antibiotics, MRI scans and even surgery.

It remains a shame that the academy continues to reward mumbo jumbo and that otherwise reputable publishers endorse what in my opinion is egregious nonsense. Publication by law or other academics in World Futures scores ERA points, a prerequisite for academic advancement or merely continued employment . There is arguably something a little awry with the system. One inference might be that a journal for scientologists and by scientologists - articles about the historicity of Xenu, the physics of the e-meter and other mystical beliefs - would get the same ERA rating enjoyed by World Futures. All you need, apparently, is a friendly mainstream publisher, peer review (by a coterie of astrologers or otherwise), citation in other journals (typically by and for coterie members), and away you go. Let's hope that I'm wrong.