Let’s face it: when it comes to respect outside their own discipline, the field of Parapsychology is probably at the bottom of the academic barrel.
This is not because there aren’t competent researchers doing fine good work among their ranks, mind you. In fact, Parapsychology has a rich history spanning centuries of some of the most intelligent people of their era painstakingly gathering evidence suggesting things that challenge the foundations of Materialism, ranging from psychic phenomena to the survival of consciousness after bodily death. Yet that hasn’t stopped skeptics from flat out poo-poohing this material without even bothering to analyze data, shielded in the natural empiricism governing our daily lives.
Yet one of the few researchers who has managed to cultivate the respect of both peers and skeptics alike is Dr. Stanley Krippner, who is not only considered one of the biggest authorities in the study of Shamanism in the entire world, but has also been involved in the study of dream telepathy, hypnosis, transpersonal psychology and a large etcetera —oh, and let’s not forget that his first mushroom trip was with Timothy Leary, and how he used to hang out regularly with the Grateful Death band!
Last Sunday Stanley had a livestream Q&A session hosted by Jeffrey Mishlove’s New Thinking Allowed Youtube channel, in which people from all over the world managed to ask him all sorts of questions. I even managed to land a question concerning Dr. Jacobo Grinberg, a Mexican researcher who like Stan was also very interested in the alleged healing powers of shamans and curanderos, including a famous Mexican healer called Pachita, who claimed she was able to channel the spirit of Aztec emperor Cuahtémoc when tending to patients to came seeking her help.
Stanley also mentioned the impending release of his memoirs, titled “A Chaotic Life” —a homage to Chaos theory, according to him… although I kind of suspect the title is a wink for his rather unconventional life which has taken him to visit a great chunk of the globe and meet with some of the most interesting and influential people in the XXth century, like LSD discoverer Albert Hoffman, psychic Uri Geller and Maria Sabina.
I am certain that decades from now, Stanley and many others like him will be recognized not only as pioneers of a scientific revolution, but also the usherers of a new era for mankind.
