Dean Radin: Real Magic, The Secret Power of The Universe
And this is not just something I’ve noticed. Many of my colleagues are concerned about what we call the experimenter effect. This is not a conventional experimenter effect but a psychic effect whereby the experimenter’s intentions seem to manifest in the experiment.
And this is a tricky business because if the expectations of the experimenter are part of the experiment itself, then that challenges our systemology.
All of science is based on the idea that the thing you’re looking at, that your observation’s not making a difference, because otherwise, you can’t have a control condition.
You also see this in psychology experiments. It’s well understood that there’s an experimenter expectancy effect in psychology.
And so, we see pretty much the same kind of thing except it also turns out to make a big difference in psychic experiments. So, when I get surprised, I like it because it means that my expectation was overridden by something else, and then it makes it more interesting.
Sandie Sedgbeer: How has your research over the past 40 years changed your original thoughts about life and the universe and, you know, whether there is life beyond life?
Dean Radin: I’m not sure that it has changed my ideas about survival very much. This is partly because the existing data is certainly very interesting, but it doesn’t yet say that there’s personal survival. When people talk about survival, what they typically mean is they’re interested in the thing that they call me themselves will continue in some way, perhaps a different form, but they’ll pretty much be the same person and have the same sense of meaning.
I don’t know that the evidence is sufficient to be able to say that that’s the case. I do think now that consciousness is fundamental in some way, and which means that awareness is there. But, it might be that a person’s body dies, and their awareness may persist for a short period of time, but then it’s a little bit like a drop of water going back into the ocean. Maybe you persist as a separate entity and maybe not. Maybe you–your awareness becomes universal awareness or something like that.
We can’t say much about this from a scientific perspective yet. The evidence continues to compound, and maybe someday, we’ll be clever enough to make a strong statement. But, what we can say then and what I would say that has changed in me over the years is that what used to hear interesting stories about a psychic ability that is more than stories. I’ve tested them repeatedly, not so much in my personal experience, although I’ve had some psychic experiences, but mainly in the laboratory.
So, using the best tools of science that we have today, it took a long time, but eventually have come around to the idea that, yeah, these are real experiences, they provide a major challenge to our understanding of reality, and that’s why I continue to be interested in them.
Sandie Sedgbeer: You have an endorsement from Eben Alexander who famously had a near-death experience, and it was one that was very compelling for people simply because of his profession, you know, the credibility factor. What do you make of NDEs?
Dean Radin: When somebody has an NDE, then they don’t need to be convinced about survival after death. Others are that there’s certainly reports of enhanced psychic ability, but as far as we know, it hasn’t been tested in a laboratory yet. It creates a personality change. It can be considered a positive form of PTSD. A near-death experience is kind of trauma, but most of the time, it turns into a personality change in a positive sense. Much of it may have to do with dropping fears about death.
How do we interpret those experiences given that what may be happening is actually beyond language in the same sense that a mystic, when asked to describe their experience, they basically say it’s inevitable, I can’t describe this experience because my experience happened in a realm where we don’t have everyday language. So, the best I can use are metaphors.
Sandie Sedgbeer: You offer a series of simple but effective magical techniques in your book. I would encourage our readers to read the book because it really is one of the best books that I’ve read in a long time. But, tell me, do you use now some of those techniques yourself in your daily life?
Dean Radin: I do, yeah. I actually talk about sigil magic, which is about symbols in the book, and I put a sigil in the book. I hid it. So, there’s one in there that people can find if they look for it.
Sandie Sedgbeer: What are you most excited to be working on next?
Dean Radin: I’m working on a series of experiments involving entangled photons. We’re seeing whether the non-local matter, which is what entangled photos is all about, local energy and matter, is related to what we call non-local mind. The non-local mind is related to the non-local matter. That would give us another clue as to how deep physics and deep mind are connected. So, that’s what I’m working on.
Connect with Dean Radin
Sandie Sedgbeer: Real Magic: Ancient Wisdom, Modern Science and a Guide to the Secret Power of the Universe are published by Harmony Books. You can find more information about Dean Radin and his work at his website www.deanradin.org.
