An Experience-Centered Approach
In 1989, Rhea White
retired from her active life as a librarian and [at least tried to
retire from her nearly four decades of responsibilities as parapsychologist
and editor of the Journal of the American Society for Psychical
Research / JASPR, which wasn't as easy to cut loose from] in New York to
move to a small town in North Carolina. After years
of trying to articulate this intractable problem [see the last few
paragraphs in
Part 1] and observing little
change in parapsychology's philosophy and methods, she chose to take a
radically different direction based on what she calls an
"experience-centered approach" that soon developed into her
Exceptional Human Experience [EHE] paradigm. In the first publication of
her own journal, Exceptional Human Experience, she describes this
transition:
The concepts of exceptional human experience … initially grew
out of my lifelong engagement with parapsychology. Initially the
papers were primarily concerned with breaking away from
parapsychology in the way the chick breaks away from the egg.
If
anything I am more convinced than ever that psi (ESP and PK –
the basic forms studied by parapsychology) is genuinely active
in people’s lives, but in
developing the concept of exceptional human experiences I have
taken an experiential rather than an evidential approach. I have
chosen meaning instead of proof. I think they are like the waves
and particles of quantum mechanics – you can’t have both at
the same time.
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Transpersonal Psychology and Feminist Science
Affinities: A Digression
As her views have
evolved particularly over the last one-and-a-half decades, focused on
meaning rather than proof, White’s EHE model demonstrates an affinity with the discipline of transpersonal psychology and
also a feminist science point of view.
A psychology
professor at the Naropa Institute, John
Davis, describes transpersonal psychology as "the overlap and integration of
psychology and the world wisdom traditions (spiritual systems). Thus,
spiritual views and practices are incorporated into psychology, and
psychological concepts and methods are applied to spirituality. I count
nonduality as its most central insight. ... From this come two other
central insights: the intrinsic health and basic goodness of the whole
and its parts, and the validity of development and experiences “beyond
the mask” of the conditional and conditioned personality." This
very much reflects the heart of White's approach to the experiential
paradigm, as I hope will become clearer below, and resolves beautifully
in its way her old argument with parapsychology. Experience is finally
getting some respect!
An additional
dimension integral to the EHE model mirrors the conceptual framework of
what is popularly termed "feminist science." Regina
Becker-Schmidt [with the University of Hanover, Psychological Institute]
offers a slightly
hirstoricized
description:
"The word "feminist" was shaped in the last
century [nineteenth] to characterize the emancipatory impulse in
political and scientific currents which were set by women. ... It
follows that the deconstruction of scientific myths is just as much an
issue of feminism as is the discussion concerning socio-cultural and
societal developments, which cause or solidify social inequality, lack
of freedom and discrimination [in this case] along the dividing line of
"gender."
More
descriptively, and to paraphrase author Nancy Hartsock, the feminist
science perspective maintains that reality is relational, contextual,
integrative, life-affirming, communal, inclusive, synergistic, committed
to plurality and the interplay of differences, respects self-reflection
as an ethical necessity, and is very “we” focused. It's premise is
that reality to a great extent is socially and culturally constructed
[consider the ideas of meaning and context-derived], that no base holds
for all cultures, although many cultures may share what appears to be
the same base. Think of this in contrast to traditional Western science,
which strives to be detached, abstract, manipulative, adversarial (“us
against nature”), exclusive, authoritarian-based and driven by
authoritarian impulses of the will to unchallengeable, exclusivistic
truths, and is very “I-Thou” focused.
It could be
reasonably argued that White offers a transpersonal, feminized, more
socially relevant and accessible alternative to the whole field of
parapsychology and the investigation of the various types of anomalous
experiences, which she calls “exceptional.” Her efforts are
unusually collaborative; her “subjects” are in essence her
co-researchers. Unlike parapsychology, the EHE point of view has
everything to do with and to say to all people. The primary objective
indeed is to nurture a valuing of the meaning EHEs can have, not only
for the individuals who have them, but for all of us and ultimately for
the very saving of our planet. Never one to shy away from telling it
like she sees it, in her Exceptional Human Experience: Background
Papers I, White remarks, "The reality we live in is a
phenomenological one, and within those terms, these experiences are
real. They can change lives. I don't know of any p-value of the
parapsychologists that has changed a life, not even one of their
own."
Digressions Aside, What Is the “Experiential Paradigm”?
An anomalous
experience, according to White, is an "experience that cannot
be explained in terms of physics, psychology, sociology or other
accepted discipline. Often it is dismissed by recourse to various
applications of the law of parsimony [resorting to Okam's Razor--looking
for the simplest explanation]. Failing that, it is passed off as
likely due to chance or possibly as a delusion of the experiencer's or
even as a hoax. ... There is usually no interest evidenced in the
potential meaning of the experience because until it is proven that it
actually happened, there is no point in looking for meaning. Our view is
that if the experiencer is left with a feeling that there is meaning
hidden somewhere in the experience, it is worth taking the time and
trouble to try to draw out that meaning and see where it leads, even if
it is not possible to rule out all counterhypotheses."
White,
when she originally coined the term exceptional human experience,
included the word "Human" primarily because she was interested
in verbal reports of experiences and only humans could provide
them. In "The Human Component in Exceptional Human
Experience" she describes the realization that came to her after
studying hundreds of descriptions of experiences that the word human is
relevant to EHEs in a much more vital, integral, and meaningful way than
she originally imagined. In "The Inward Olympics," which was
originally given at a conference in Olympia,
Greece, she writes about how EHEs deepen as well as raise and broaden
consciousness and thereby foster a deep sense of interconnectedness and
awareness of the divine immanence of all things.
The following comment is the jewel in the crown of thought that so
fascinates and excites virtually everyone who is drawn to understand the
implications of these experiences and their potential to make a
shattering and extraordinary difference in this world and in every
experiencer; it is also the foremost reason why this website was built.
Continuing from above, White says,
We think it is likely that the basic meanings revealed by these
experiences, once they become potentiated into EHEs [i.e., once
they become active agents for transforming the experiencers'
identity, life and worldview], is the key to the evolution of
consciousness and also to saving planet Earth because of the
types of changed consciousness that are associated with EHEs.
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In other words, these “exceptional
experiences” [EEs], which White describes as --
...all kinds
of unusual, nonordinary, anomalous, supernatural, transpersonal,
metanormal, transcendent experiences ... are instrumental in
transforming the identity, life, and worldview of experiencers
in the direction of realizing their full human potential. ...
[I.e., in generating this transformative process, they become
full-blown “exceptional human experiences” / EHEs, and as
such] they play a catalytic role in humanizing the experiencer.
... enabl[ing] a person to contact what William James called the
MORE in human experience.... As James wrote, the More is both
inside and outside the individual and it provides a sense of
life direction that comes both from within and without, often in
the form of additional EHEs, especially intuition and
synchronicity. ... [This] EHE process integrates both one's
outer and inner worldview.
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These changes
have been remarked by everyone who studies them and appear to be almost
universal among EHEers, although the degree and expression of them are
unique to the person. Quoting from her article, "The
Aftereffects of My NDE," she further explains the critical
importance of this
EHE
process:
... I have isolated 10 qualities of exceptional human
experiences of any type, from apparitions to UFO encounters,
including the experience of falling in love and creative
inspiration. Of the 10, the major characteristics are that
-
They
promote self-integration.
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They engender a sense of connection to
other people, life forms, and the sacred.
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They can serve as
a seed or nucleus around which one can weave and sometimes even
rewrite one's personal story so that it is much more meaningful
than before.
-
By remembering, cherishing, and fostering their
exceptional experiences, people ... [can] live more fully and
responsibly because they are more integrally connected to the
past, to the future, and to life as a whole, including death.
-
Heeding one's exceptional experiences can lead the person to
become more helpful and accepting of others and to experience a
fuller life. *
*I
bulleted these for easier reading.--R. Rocamora
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[Regarding
the aftereffects of EHEs: Even though the above-quoted paper is
not online, this excellent one is -- "The
Aftereffects of EHEs," by White and Brown.]
Another
Inspired Leap: The Ehe Autobiography
There appear
to be even greater levels of soul-deepening revelations we may derive
from these experiences. Read on ...
