A second one is the Scientific and Medical Network : -

From its own WebPages: "The Network brings together an informal international

 group consisting of qualified scientists, doctors, and other professionals such as

 architects, engineers, philosophers, psychologists and therapists. The Network

 currently has over 2000 professional members and 800 associates in 53 countries".

The Templeton Foundation impacts upon academia in particular, and society in general, 

whereas it seems to me that the SMN is more about debate and trying out new ideas in an 

open and social atmosphere.

Here are some general impressions: -

Metaphysics has a strong  intrinsic appeal to many, because of the profound and absorbing 

questions that it addresses, but  I suspect that newcomers to the subject will, like me, soon find 

that there are in existence far too many competing and incompatible models representing the 

nature of reality.  Prioritising one's researches becomes a real problem. There is no coordinating body.  

Specialists advocating these many different models need to work together more and to make a 

determined effort to converge them, at least in some measure. Failing that,  the same enigmas that 

ace metaphysics now, are likely persist for yet another millennium (or two!). Bland  acceptance of 

the incompatibility of  models, accompanied by such statements as 'the models don't matter as long 

as they work' is an affront to posterity! The scientific approach is to find ways to test models, or to 

put problems to one side until validation exercises are feasible and real progress can be made.  Among 

metaphysicians I sense strong motivation but they appear to lack the unity of purpose that as is evident 

in the scientific community.  

There is clear  need for stronger interaction, possibly with the establishment of working parties which 

aim to iron out specific differences between  models and belief systems. Because of the profound 

nature of  metaphysical questions, such working parties may well fail in the attempt, but they should 

nevertheless be able to make useful contributions.  Attempts at reconciliation should result firstly in a 

clarification of the differences, and  secondly in pinpointing what would be required to reconcile them.  

There needs to be a greater drive towards a unity, and less of a determination to build and maintain 

autonomous philosophies and belief systems.  Succinct summaries of the various differences will help 

non-specialists to get a proper perspective of the issues in a reasonable time scale. They need to be

expressed in terms that appeal generally to the enquiring population. Such summaries are much needed 

but either they are not  available or I have been unable to find them.  They would place  people with enquiring

 minds in a  better position to set their objectives and develop their own views.  They would release them 

from wading though vast amounts of literature.  The resultant  time-saving  would benefit  the present and 

future generations, by giving them a better base from which to start exploring   and perhaps identify new

ways to approach the great mysteries. In frenetic modern life, time is at a premium, and it is incumbent 

on specialists in all walks of life to state what are the important implications of their fields, and  to do so

in terms which can be generally and quickly understood.

(Insert, Sep 2003 - In  various presentations in different media types, leading workers in various fields 

have recently given excellent popularized accounts of mysteries confronting us; e.g. the laws of quantum 

mechanics; cosmological forces and the mind-matter link.  As I interpreted these presentations, they 

served only to emphasise the intractability of the problems.  The average person can only be a  spectator 

with respect to progress in these fields, and the prospects are that we will have to  live with a great deal

of  uncertainty into the indefinite future.)

 Having formulated and  agreed upon the key metaphysical questions,  it should then be possible for 

specialists to judge when it is appropriate to allocate time for tackling particular issues.  The time needs 

to be right if useful progress is to be made.   For example, it would have been futile for pioneers 

of the telephone to try to build a version of the Internet.  They could have dreamt of it, of course.  

Many individual belief systems are associated with statements of their relevance to the individual and to 

society at large, but  such statements appear to be lacking for the subject of metaphysics as a whole.  The 

fragmentation of metaphysics makes it a particularly time-consuming subject to enter and this makes it 

virtually inaccessible to the many people who's free time is restricted by the demands of modern life.  This 

factor must result in a very limited public awareness of the subject.  The pace of life appears to be increasing, 

and there seems little prospect that time will be at less of a premium. in the future.  Complacency about this 

fragmentation  probably damages belief that metaphysics, as a general subject,  is a worthwhile field to pursue.  

This criticism, drawn from personal experience, is meant to be constructive, for surely society would benefit 

by being  more aware of the profound metaphysical questions;  how far we have reached in understanding 

them; and what are the implications.  Decisions on  lifestyles should surely depend on our perceptions of the 

reality in which we live.  The onus must be on specialists to co-ordinate their efforts, and to simplify the path 

to greater metaphysical awareness for the individual.  

."IN NATURE’S INFINITE BOOK OF SECRECY JUST A LITTLE CAN I LEARN!"

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. CONSCIOUSNESS

What an enigmatic and challenging subject! Explaining consciousness, or  the nature of subjective  

experiences is attracting many powerful brains, including Nobel Laureates in science.  The  volume of 

information being published on the subject is truly daunting. (just try entering consciousness as a keyword 

in a search engine on the Internet!)   Information overload is certainly a hazard in this area, although 

consciousness is not unique in that respect! The Journal of Consciousness Studies keeps readers 

in touch with current thinking, but it has a strong philosophical bias.

• Journal of Consciousness Studies

See the abstracts of papers at the third Tucson conference for the  latest material. This biennial 

meeting is now firmly established and attracts top names in the field.

• Tucson Conference 

For those interested in the possible relationship between quantum mechanics and the mind there 

were some excellent discussions conducted for a period on a listserver. The discussions were archived.

Search facilities are provided.

• Quantum Mind Archive

   Click on the image  for further discussion of 

   consciousness, and hyperlinks to specialist sites.

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. ALTERNATIVE SCIENCE AND THE PARANORMAL

	"Experimental parapsychology has provided tantalising glimpses of 

	a greater reality?"		

Will  the paranormal of today remain paranormal, or will it become part of the mainstream 

science of tomorrow?  There are some excellent introductions to the paranormal on the 

World Wide Web, and I include some URL’s below.   These sites are selected because are 

produced by responsible scientists who have already made acknowledged  mainstream 

contributions.  Nevertheless,  they are  motivated to take a serious look at the challenges 

that repuedly paranormal anomalies pose.  The URL’s  lead to a variety of research 

investigations being conducted in different parts the world.  

• Princeton Anomalies Research Laboratory

• Society for Scientific Exploration

• Prof. Brian Josephson, 

• Pacific Neuropsychiatric Institute

• Dr. Dean Radin, 

(Note Dean Radin's excellent survey of practical investigations in his book:-

"The Conscious Universe",   Harper Edge, 1997)

Useful  introductory books on the subject  are:- 

An Introduction to Parapsychology, by H. J. Irwin ISBN 0-89950-396-9

The reality of the Paranormal, by Arthur Ellison, (Retired  Electrical Engineering Professor)

ISBN 0-245-54474-7

A sense of Something Strange Archie Roy, (Professor of Astronomy) ISBN 1-872536-06-9 

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. THE SPIRITUAL

I leave comment of the World's great religions to others, but for a valuable  summary

of them, visit the BBC Web site

BBC Religions page

A distinction needs to be made between the spiritual and the paranormal even 

though they seem to operate together at times (e.g. miracles ). Paranormal events 

do not always appear to have spiritual significance (e.g. poltergeists). Mystical 

experiences are not necessarily accompanied by paranormal physical events.

(e.g. visions) Despite the vast amount of literature available on the topic of spirituality, 

I have been surprised to how  few references I can find to objective investigations into 

the nature of spirituality.  Is it  currently too difficult to define objective investigations? 

 Is it considered too presumptuous  to subject spirituality to rational analysis by those with 

humility and reverence for the spiritual world?  Have I simply not found the right URL’s ?  

There are of course countless sites on the Web relating to other aspects of spirituality

which can be readily be found using the popular search engines.  (Some sites on spirituality 

do seem to have have a disconcerting habit of moving without leaving a forwarding address.

I did maintain a list of recommended sites but on checking them after a time I have found 

that some of  them had been usurped by other enterprises,  selling New Age style goods for

example, and sadly the inellectual content sadly disappeared.  So much for the rich content 

of the Web! )  I leave you to conduct your own  searches, with the powerful search engines

that are available on the Web.

. DIMENSIONS

As a scientist I see no reason why physical reality should consist of only four dimensions:

three of space and one of time.  Note the excellent account of superstring theory by 

Brian Greene; The Elegant Universe; W. .W. Norton & Co.; 1999.  

Furthermore I see no reason to assume that reality consists of only 'physical' dimensions. 

Following on from that, I see no reason why consciousness should not exist as something

separate from matter.  The physical universe is  way beyond our perception, particularly 

at the extremes of scale, and there seems no reason to assume that reality consists of a 

physical framework only. Dimensions of the  physical world are discussed in the  readable 

book:-

Hyperspace,  Prof. Michio Kaku, OUP, 1995, ISBN 0-19-286189-1

• Kaku's hyperspace (his Web site includes summaries of his book)

See also Max Tegmark's site at Princeton University, which includes an expanded version of

his paper on the 'theory of everything' published in the New Scientist, and Matti Pitkanen's site,

which summarises his development of a theory of reality over many years:-

• Max Tegmark's ToE

• Matti Pitkanen

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7. REALITY MODEL

Throwing caution to the winds and offering my concept for discussion!

( Go on then, e-mail me and tear it to pieces!  :-)   )

As stated above,  theories of particle and cosmological  physics involve more than the four 

dimensions of space time.  The number is uncertain as a generally agreed model has yet to be 

developed.  In my concept, the  word "dimension" could be extended refer to things which are 

beyond  the scope of current  physical science.   Emotions, for example,  are experienced at  

different intensities, so it should be possible to assign "dimensions" to them.

We can distinguish between more than a million colours, yet all these colours can be described 

in terms of the intensities of three primaries. In a parallel way I think it possible that  emotions 

could be described in terms of a few primaries.  I am using the visual analogy purely to illustrate 

how a vast range of subtle qualities can arise from just a few primaries.  The analogy should not be 

taken too far, because the three colour primaries result from physical processes in the human eye, 

whereas I am suggesting that there are primary properties of reality itself.  The definition of colour

 in terms of spectral content is one thing.   The definition of colour in terms of experience, e.g. the 

emotions that abstract paintings can evoke, is quite another. 

Studies by various authors, in the catgory 'Art and the Brain' have been published in:-

Journal of Consciousness Studies, Vol. 6; 1999 

Journal of Consciousness Studies, Vol. 6; 1999 

For a penetrating look at the (possible?) relationship between art and science, see

Strange and Charmed,  Sian Ede, calouste Gulbenkian Foundation,  2000

 I venture a few  thoughts on the subject  illustrating them using conceptual diagrams.  In no way

are they intended to compete with concepts the masters of the field  but they are intended to offer 

a relatively speedy familiarity with some of the big questions.

Conceptual diagrams of reality model

See also the page 'Holographic Concept' which provides links to corresponding sites.

•  Holographic Model

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. A PRACTICAL LOOK AT TELEPATHY AND REMOTE VIEWING

Here's a novel investigation for a retired industrial physicist, but it is perhaps incumbent on would-be

explorers on metaphysics try to gain first-hand experience!  Having said that, it may be inadvisable 

to dwell too long on any particular topic without good reason.  Some of the issues seem beyond the 

scope of research by an individual, or even seem totally  intractable at this point in time.

Early in my venture into the world of metaphysics,  I attempted transatlantic telepathic communication 

with metaphysician, Dr. Helen Stewart who has a PhD in psychology, and who claimed to have possessed 

psychic abilities since childhood.  I suspect this is an very unusual pairing of qualifications. Contact 

resulted from participation in a discussion group on the Web. We reasoned that if mind is nonlocal, and 

subtle nonlocal connections can occur between minds, then  spatial separation should be unimportant.  

After all non-locality is an established and generally accepted feature of quantum mechanics.

Helen lives in the USA and I'm in the UK so we decided to put conjecture to the test and  to conduct  

some experiments across the Atlantic.  They were meant to satisfy our own curiosities.  We were aware that 

they would not produce solid scientific evidence, but despite that, our observations were carefully timed 

and recorded.  Anyone seeking objective evidence for telepathy may like to refer to research investigations 

such as those conducted at Edinburgh University.  We aimed to gain first-hand experience to satisfy natural 

curiosity, and took a different approach to academic establishments researching the subject.  For one thing, 

we suspected  that strict observance of scientific protocols used by these establishments  might well be a 

distraction, and act as an inhibiting factor to telepathy.  A very relaxed frame of mind seems to be important. 

At pre-determined, precise (to the second)  time intervals we  relaxed  in a quiet environment and maintained 

complete freedom of choice about which objects (or emotions) to focus on during these time intervals.  We 

made choices impulsively, and did not draw random samples  from a small set of  photographs for example.  

To read about academic studies of telepathy visit:-

• Koestler Parapsychology Unit, Edinburgh University

A report of a recent objective study of telepathy with numerous participants was published by:-

Dalkest & Westerland; Journal of Scientific Exploration; Vol. 12; No 4; 1998 pp 583-605

The Society of Scientific Exploration publishing the Journal has a Web site:-

• Society for Scientific Exploration

Our investigations were inconclusive but on balance they did appear to confirm that telepathic communication 

can occur, but only spasmodically. It cannot be relied upon to work, and when it does, the transfer of information 

is very degraded.  Moreover,  it seemed that  sometimes subconscious observations were picked up rather than 

observations that were the focus of the sender's attention.  For example with the sender looking at a field of sheep, 

the description of the scene given by the recipient appeared to a good fit of the row of houses immediately behind 

the field!  For us, visual communication (clairvoyance) seemed to occur much more readily than communication of 

emotion (clairsentience ) or of sounds (clairaudience).

 Don’t take my word for it.  If the subject  interest you,  arrange your own  investigations, but don't 

expect to put the telephone companies out of business: the information flow appears to be very degraded!

If you are going to play the game be more relaxed about cause and effect, so paramount to science.

I would look forward exchanging accounts with other investigators.    We kept detailed records,

including accurate dates and times.  We also ran a series of  investigations of remote viewing, 

although I would comment that it is sometimes difficult to distinguish remote viewing from telepathy.  

We produced reports of our findings for interested friends, but made no attempt to publish them.  We

 are no longer active.   There seemed little point attempting to go beyond natural curiosity without a formal link

to funded and objective investigations in well equipped university departments.  As the number of  scientific 

publications reporting non-local events mounts it is interesting to conjecture whether telepathy and quantum 

non-locality are related, and whether mainstream scientific investigations of the subject may not be too far away.

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. EXPERIMENTAL PROCEDURE

In the telepathy studies, we used a set procedure that was suggested by Prof. Peter Stewart, a qualified 

physicist who had researched telepathy for some years.   He is hoping that others will investigate 

telepathy using this set procedure.   A set procedure is useful for those who are unsure (as I was) of  how 

to attempt telepathic communication in the first place.  A number of benefits follow the use of a set 

procedure:  For example,  if  independent teams conduct investigations of telepathic communication, and 

subsequently pool their observations, it would be simpler to compare and analyse them.  Conclusions 

drawn from observations in a number of independent studies may earn more attention from others,

 who may be concerns about subjective effects for example.  We did consider having our studies 

witnessed.   Observations recorded by independent witnesses should  be more convincing to others.

 (witnesses were used in major trials of remote viewing in the USA, see below) but witnesses may be a 

distraction and adversely affect the success rate, that seems at its highest  for a mind that is quiet and 

undisturbed.

Our observations will be made available for anyone who is genuinely interested.  

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.  CHANNELLED MATERIAL

One wide-ranging examination of the nature of reality and of  varieties of human experience is 

contained in the seven books of 'channeled' material by Jane Roberts. Her 'discarnate source' was  

named ‘Seth’.   I was introduced to this material after retirement.  As an industrial scientist I had not 

anticipated reading such books, but once sampled, I was drawn into them. One may need to make

allowances for  difficulties with a very unusual type of 'communication' and with limits to the uses of

metaphors.   I come to no conclusion about the validity of the material, but that's not the point!  I 

found the novel concepts a valuable aid to my thinking process because they dealt with important 

questions, they were provocative and the ideas were not easy to dismiss.  Such material seems to me 

to be  a good example of what  metaphysics should be about:  that is, it challenges the mainstream to 

examine alternative models from a new perspective.   I would welcome comments from others who 

have read the books.  I would add that they do not deal with trivial messages from the departed, 

but many of profound matters that affect our lives.  For example in the field of physics; whether time 

and space are continuous or discontinuous on the small (Planck?)  scale; whether superluminal particles 

(e.g. tachyons) exist; the levels of reality, and the mind matter link that remains so enigmatic to quantum 

scientists.  

There is a  resemblance between Seth's concept of 'conscious units' and 'monads', described by 

Paul Marshall:-  Transforming the World Into Experience; 

Journal of Consciousness Studies, 8, No. 1, 2001, pp. 59-76

There is good introductory material and a discussion group at: -

http://www.newworldview.com/

and a list of definitions of the terms used at: -

http://www.newworldview.com/library/Dahl_L_ABCs.html

Mainstream