Prehending parapsychology

David Ray Griffin is a relatively well-known theologian in the United States. Or at least *was* a theologian before he joined the Truth Movement and became a conspiracy theorist. The various books in the "SUNY Series in Constructive Postmodern Thought" were written before 9/11. It should be noted at the outset that Griffin uses the term "postmodern" in a somewhat idiosyncratic fashion. Essentially, he has appropriated the term and pinned it on his own variant of process theology. This brand of liberal Christianity is based on the philosophical works of Alfred North Whithead, Charles Hartshorne and (arguably) Griffin himself. Real postmodern thinkers would most certainly regard Whitehead's all-knowing metaphysics as a parody of early, pre-Kantian modernity. Indeed, Whitehead's works seem to be taken more seriously by theologians than philosophers - but then, that might actually be a commendation, considering the pseudo-intellectual vandals philosophers *do* take seriously.

"Parapsychology, philosophy and spirituality" is an extended pitch, directed at scientists and philosophers, to take parapsychology seriously. Griffin argues that parapsychology is a bona fide science, and that its findings strongly suggest that paranormal phenomena are real. He discusses a broad range of such phenomena: telepathy, clairvoyance, out-of-body experiences, reincarnation, mediumistic messages, etc. CSICOP won't like this book!

Griffin then attempts to explain the phenomena from the viewpoint of process theology. Apparently, many process theologians reject the idea of an immortal soul or life after death. So did Griffin until he turned to parapsychology, at which point he changed his mind in favour of the idea of an immortal soul. The problem is that Griffin constantly attempts to pigeon-hole parapsychology into the somewhat restricted worldview of process theology. Thus, he doesn't see paranormal phenomena as proof for dualism. Instead, he attempts to reconcile them with panpsychism (or panexperientialism). He also attempts to square them with evolution, proposing that perhaps the immortal soul evolved at a certain point in human (or animal?) evolution. Griffin is also forced to reject precognition, ostensibly because it's incoherent. In my opinion, the real reason is its incompatibility with process theology, according to which the future doesn't exist - the God of process theology is a God within time who co-evolves with the universe.

In fact, I suspect that sections of this book are actually veiled polemics against fellow process theologians who won't readily accept the idea of survival after death. Thus, Griffin discusses at ridiculous length the alternative hypothesis that parapsychological phenomena are the result of "super-PSI abilities" rather than the survival of bodily death. Under this scenario, all memories of the dead are somehow still floating out there, and a medium with developed telepathic abilities can "prehend" them and appropriate them, thereby creating the illusion of a deceased person speaking through the medium, when in reality the medium simply rehashes old memory patterns. This is a classical example of the explanation being stranger than the problem it's supposed to explain - in practice, the explanation accepts the occult notion of the Akashic records! It also strikes me as incoherent, since one of Griffin's arguments against materialism is that consciousness is a self-existing whole rather than a mere sum of small parts that could be reduced to matter. But if the memories "prehended" by the medium are so holistic that they can mimic the deceased person almost perfectly, wouldn't this be a strong presumption in favour of the memories *actually being* the dead person?

In the end, Griffin rejects super-PSI and settles for the "survivalist" hypothesis. He seems to regard out-of-body experiences, especially those reported in conjunction with near-death experiences, as the smoking gun evidence for life after death and the existence of an immortal soul that can leave the physical body. The book ends with a call to unite science, philosophy and spirituality, using the philosophy of Whitehead as a necessary starting point.

"Parapsychology, philosophy and spirituality" does raise a lot of interesting points. Griffin writes in an easily accessible and pedagogic manner, although at times he becomes a bit too pedantic and boring. (He's a theology professor, after all!) This is not a bad book, not by any means. My problem with it is that Griffin somehow rejects one set of dogma - those of materialist science - in favour of another set of dogma, this time process theology. I admit a certain fascination with Whitehead, but the all-knowing, all-prehending traits of his philosophy do strike me as somewhat odd. Did he have a revelation on the road to Damascus, or what? Griffin should be commended for changing his mind on a central issue for his own theology, but it still feels as if he is attempting to squeeze the paranormal into a rigid, dogmatic framework anyway.

The truth is out there, agent Griffin. But is the truth to be prehended through the lens of process theology? That still remains to be seen...