Observations placeholder
George Hanson - Society for Psychical Research Vol. 51, No. 792, October 1982 – 09 Dowsing: Final Comments and references
Identifier
025482
Type of Spiritual Experience
Background
There is something very comical about the fact that apparently thousands and thousands of people in the USA alone are using this, and as we can see from the observations it is being used by many to find minerals, by others to find water, has been use for thousands of years and yet this report says 'scientists' haven't been able to prove it or come up with any explanation.
My solution would be to sack the old scientists and get some more competent ones, and change the assumptions on which they set up these experiments - maybe their entire model is wrong.
Why are they treating electromagnetic energy as some means and not a substance in it sown right?
The dowsers can detect EMFs, like they can detect water and minerals. So maybe EMFs are no different to water and minerals - maybe everything is a particle/object/atom based on energy that simply displays properties - behaviour. And some people can detect the properties being displayed as the entire universe executes along the loom of life.
A description of the experience
Originally published in the Journal of the Society for Psychical Research Vol. 51, No. 792, October 1982, pp. 343-367. DOWSING: A REVIEW OF EXPERIMENTAL RESEARCH by GEORGE P. HANSEN*
FINAL COMMENTS
In spite of the large number of investigations made into dowsing, its status remains unclear. This is largely a result of sloppy experimental procedures and or report writing.
For some people, dowsing does appear to be a useful problem solving tool. Dowsers do seem to be goal orientated, and in this reviewer’s experience, most do not care how it works: just as well perhaps, since science has no definitive answer. Critics and proponents alike should pay heed to the ideas of a grade school class that studied dowsing (Boone, 1965)—Conclusions should not be drawn on the basis of one experiment.
The biophysical investigations have resulted in a wide range of findings in regard to human sensitivity to magnetic fields. Well described reports are available indicating considerable sensitivity as well as lack of results. If further work is done in this area, rigorous experimental controls must be applied, and the site of the experiment should be checked for magnetic anomalies. If it is found that humans are much more sensitive than previously expected, parapsychological experiments may require more elaborate shields to rule out ordinary communication channels.
The physiological studies seem to be the most consistent. A number of investigators have reported a change in skin potential when dowsers cross certain ‘dowsing zones’. Although much of this work is 30 years old, it seems to be the most promising area for further study.
As indicated previously, to prove that dowsing is a function of psi, more successful, strictly controlled tests will be required. In most of the studies testing this idea, sensory cues w ere not ruled out. Of the three map dowsing experiments reviewed, one obtained marginally significant results. Further experiments testing the psi hypothesis should utilize map dowsing to rule out sensory information to the subject. It would also be desirable to conduct the testing with a ‘real’ problem.
In short, the work investigating dowsing from a biophysical and physiological standpoint is promising but not totally compelling. Considerably more experimental work is required to support the case that dowsing is a psi process.
The source of the experience
Scientist otherConcepts, symbols and science items
Symbols
LoomScience Items
Activities and commonsteps
Activities
Commonsteps
References
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