This review appeared in Syntagma several weeks ago

If you are anything like me, you will occasionally — as if by serendipity — come across a book you intended to write yourself.

As Albert Einstein put it, “If I keep asking the question long enough, the answer will be given me”.

The book I “chanced” upon is The Secret History of the World by Jonathan Black, a nom de plume of Mark Booth, Chief Executive of Century publishers, a British imprint of Random House. The author has used his many connections within publishing to amass an impressive array of data on his topic.

The simplest way to explain his subject is to state that science has become a militant materialist philosophy that believes matter precedes mind. Some scientists have even called consciousness “a disease of matter,” as if it were an interloper in a senseless universe.

This view is the complete opposite of what a majority of the greatest minds throughout history have believed — or better, known.

The perennial philosophy, as it has been called — that mind gives rise to matter — is still believed by the larger part of the human race. The last Pope, John Paul II, was taught in his youth by a Rosicrucian master. Following a car accident which nearly killed him, he had a spiritual experience which mirrored exactly what the teacher had taught him. Such was its overwhelming power, the young mystical Pole signed up for a seminary that led all the way to his becoming Pope in Rome.

The Rosicrucians (followers of the Rosy Cross) teach the age-old knowledge of idealism — that all is mind — in a Christian context. It is said that there are 20 miles of books in the Vatican library dedicated to this and similar points of view.

Quantum mechanics comes very close to idealism without quite letting go of the materialist base of science. There is no doubt that Einstein was a thorough-going adherent too. Everything he wrote screams “perennial philosophy”.

The problem is, the early Church came down very hard on anyone who challenged its materialist worldview, and, as Jonathan Black writes, today’s scientism demonizes anyone who as much as suggests an alternative to rocky lumps floating about in a void. Richard Dawkin is a prime example of the modern scientific inquisition. On the face of it, an alliance between early Catholicism and modern science is bizarre, but it’s a fact.

Most early believers in the supremacy of mind formed secret societies based on the Mystery Schools of antiquity, where spilling the beans meant death. According to Black, many of these societies still exist, though often branded with the tag “occult”, a word that simply means “hidden”, as in occluded.

Despite the iron fist in an iron glove approach of the present-day intellectual establishment, the vision of man’s ancient understanding of the universe lives on and thrives. As well as Einstein, the British astronomer James Jeans stated that, “the universe is nothing but a gigantic thought”. Isaac Newton spent most of his life studying aspects of it, so did C. G. Jung, the great Swiss joint-founder of psychology as we know it.

Buddhism and Hinduism are based on it, as are most religions, even Christianity, whose earliest exponents were Gnostics, a term meaning “knowers”, as opposed to believers. They sought, and many found, direct experience of the secret knowledge that mind creates matter, and not the other way round.

Dr Rupert Sheldrake, a contemporary biologist, has conducted many scientific experiments showing the influence of mind over matter, or “extended mind” as he calls it. His recent The Sense Of Being Stared At is a treasure chest of empirical idealism. His other work on the psychic abilities of animals is ground-breaking science at its unprejudiced best.

Black’s book is eye-wateringly comprehensive across the field, but concentrates on the ancient timeline and secret society aspects of the topic.

Anyone who has ever doubted the primacy of matter over mind, should read it with an open mind. It is a richly rewarding classic of its kind.

Reviewed by John Evans

I often wondered that with my mother’s cat, who jumped onto the couch to peer out the window, moments before I heard my mom’s car pull up to the house. My father told me about a family dog that followed them halfway across the country to be with them on their vacation. I can easily explain away the cat’s behavior–exceptional hearing or an awareness of time. But the dog? How would she know where to find my father’s family, especially at such a great distance?

Rupert Sheldrake has written a book about such cases, entitled Dogs That Know When Their Owners are Coming Home. Sheldrake believes that domestic animals can communicate telepathically with people and other animals with whom they have emotional bonds. That’s putting it simply, without the science speak. He isn’t alone in his curiosity about this phenomenon.

Alex Tsakiris of OpenSourceScience is hosting a contest to see whether dogs have psychic ability. The prize for the dog who can demonstrate psychic talent is $1,000. Find out more about this contest by visiting Dogs That Know.

Marie D. Jones published a book this past November, entitled, PSIence, where she uses quantum physics to explore various paranormal phenomena such as ghosts and UFOs. I was aware of this book when it first came out, but didn’t buy it because I felt that it might be too dry. After listening to her speak on paranormalpodcast.com, I found myself fascinated, especially where ghosts are concerned.

Once again, I went to Amazon to check out her book and found that the Search Inside feature had been implemented. I enjoyed the excerpt as much as I did the podcast.

Since 1979, the Princeton Engineering Anomalies Research (PEAR) laboratory made international headlines with its efforts to prove that thoughts can alter the course of events. This laboratory has been an embarrassment to the mainstream scientists of Princeton University because they felt that extrasensory perception (ESP) and telekinesis weren’t “real” science.

PEAR will close its doors at the end of the month because its founder, Robert G. Jahn, believes it’s time. The laboratory’s equipment is aging and its finances are dwindling. But the deciding factor in the decision was the lack of new resources to study.

“For 28 years, we’ve done what we wanted to do, and there’s no reason to stay and generate more of the same data,” said the laboratory’s founder, Robert G. Jahn, 76, former dean of Princeton’s engineering school and an emeritus professor. “If people don’t believe us after all the results we’ve produced, then they never will.”

Source: New York Times