Evidence or Meaning in Parapsychology?

Question

Some parapsychologist like the late Louisa Rhine

http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m2320/is_4_66/ai_97754937

believed that recording people's personal psi experiences was a way to get ideas that could then be taken into a lab and tested under controlled conditions. Thus looking for evidence of a reported phenomena.

Has anyone ever attempted to study what the psi experiences meant to the people that experienced them?

Answer 1

There are many imaginary things that can make great and enjoyable fiction stories. Enjoy them.

Just remember, THE FOLLOWING ARE NOT REAL:

Time traveling, werewolves, zombies, mermaids, vampires, unicorns, light sabers, tooth fairies, telepathy, lucky numbers, homeopathic healing, leprechauns, magic, spontaneous human combustion, astral traveling, lucky or charmed objects, hexes, space aliens on Earth, paranormal anything, genies, dead people walking around, telekinesis, spirit guides, angels, invisible controlling spirits, life after death… or supernatural events of any kind.

Answer 2

When we discuss what an experience "meant to" somebody, we are leaving the natural sciences and moving into social sciences.  I do remember a study that examined different extraterestrial experiences and what they meant to each subject, but that was done as a sociological study (and was not focused on psi phenomenon).

At the risk of leaving science behind for a moment, I will say that anybody that I have know who has done "psychic readings" are more focused on how people react to their experiences than the nature of the experiences themselves.  Performing readings is more akin to doing counselling work in Psychology than it is to doing lab work.

I do not know of any laboratory work that has been done to study peoples thoughts and/or feelings about psi phenomenon that they have experienced, but I believe that work would most effectively be approached from a sociological perspective.  Thanks for the question!

EDIT:  Personally, I am focused on how an experience affects me as this is where I find meaning.  I have found strong revelations in dreams and in the dust on my nightstand.  The experience and knowledge often comes from internal sources more than from "proof" of an external event.

Answer 3

oh and there is one more to add to the list by Donut Tim - God/s...

Answer 4

The very nature of psi experiences leaves the possibility of them meaning different things to different people in different situations. For example, here's a link about a few experiences. The variety of circumstances ranges from tragic to comical.

Edit; The most intense parapsychological experience in my life to date had no personal meaning in the sense that it only changed my life by virtue of having happened. It was enough to realize that such phenomena occur. Simply having something like that happen is both evidence and meaning.

Answer 5

I don't think there is any question that I had an experience.  What I would like proof of is what, exactly, that experience was caused by.

I think that much lab testing is hampered by an inability to account for all of the variables involved in psi experiments.  This is due to lack of understanding about what those variables are.