Dean Radin > Quotes

“The universe looks less like a big machine than a big thought.”
― Dean Radin

“What Warcollier demonstrated is compatible with what modern cognitive neuroscience has learned about how visual images are constructed by the brain. It implies that telepathic perceptions bubble up into awareness from the unconscious and are probably processed in the brain in the same way that we generate images in dreams. And thus telepathic “images” are far less certain than sensory-driven images and subject to distortion.”
― Dean Radin, Entangled Minds: Extrasensory Experiences in a Quantum Reality

“When the evidence for an anomaly becomes overwhelming, and the anomaly cannot be easily accommodated by the existing scientific worldview, this is a very important sign that either our assumptions about reality are wrong or our assumptions about how we come to understand things are wrong.”
― Dean Radin, The Conscious Universe: The Scientific Truth of Psychic Phenomena

“Within the magical worldview everything is deeply interconnected, so if you intend to harm others, you are likely to end up harming yourself.”
― Dean Radin, Real Magic: Ancient Wisdom, Modern Science, and a Guide to the Secret Power of the Universe

“The new discipline will be the study of the psychophysical nature of reality, that mysterious, interstitial space shimmering between mind and matter.”
― Dean Radin, Real Magic: Ancient Wisdom, Modern Science, and a Guide to the Secret Power of the Universe

“Prayer is not an old woman’s idle amusement. Properly understood and applied, it is the most potent instrument of action.”
― Dean Radin, The Conscious Universe: The Scientific Truth of Psychic Phenomena

“But magic doesn’t mean “no cause.” It just means that we haven’t yet developed scientifically acceptable theories to explain these effects.”
― Dean Radin, Real Magic: Ancient Wisdom, Modern Science, and a Guide to the Secret Power of the Universe

“Rabbi Moses ben Maimon (1135–1204, also known as Maimonides), put it: Every time you find in our books a tale the reality of which seems impossible, a story which is repugnant both to reason and common sense, then be sure that tale contains a profound allegory veiling a deeply mysterious truth…and the greater the absurdity of the letter the deeper the wisdom of the spirit.16”
― Dean Radin, Real Magic: Ancient Wisdom, Modern Science, and a Guide to the Secret Power of the Universe

“What a lonely universe it would be if ultimately we are just robotic “meat machines,” playacting the appearance of reading to a mindless audience that isn’t even aware it is the audience.”
― Dean Radin, Real Magic: Ancient Wisdom, Modern Science, and a Guide to the Secret Power of the Universe

“Any number of controlled studies have demonstrated that when people are presented with facts that contradict their firmly held beliefs, they tend to ignore the facts; even more perversely, a sizable percentage of people will become more confirmed in their beliefs the more contravening facts you present.”
― Dean Radin, Supernormal: Science, Yoga and the Evidence for Extraordinary Psychic Abilities

“Another theme we’ll discuss is that magic didn’t miraculously disappear with the rise of the scientific worldview. Magic is still intensely present. Prayer is a form of intentional magic, a mental act intended to affect the world in some way. Wearing a sacred symbol is a form of sympathetic magic, a symbolic correspondence said to transcend time and space. Many religious rituals are forms of ancient ceremonial magic. The abundance of popular books on the power of affirmations and positive thinking are all based on age-old magical principles.”
― Dean Radin, Real Magic: Ancient Wisdom, Modern Science, and a Guide to the Secret Power of the Universe

“One of the consequences of taking this inner perspective is that the idea of magic transforms from an impossible fantasy into an aspect of Nature that we can begin to study. From this stance, terms such as paranormal and supernatural are seen as quaint and antediluvian, similar to how modern medicine no longer needs the concept of “bad humors” when discussing the origins of disease.”
― Dean Radin, Real Magic: Ancient Wisdom, Modern Science, and a Guide to the Secret Power of the Universe

“is known as a certainty that there exists an unimaginably powerful creator and sustainer of reality, and of you in particular. This creator is unborn, uncreated, undying, and unchanging.”
― Dean Radin, Supernormal: Science, Yoga and the Evidence for Extraordinary Psychic Abilities

“By contrast, in the West the mere existence of psychic phenomena remains a contentious issue, despite persistent interest and popular belief. There are a number of reasons for this chronic tension. On the religious side, within the Judeo-Christian-Islamic traditions, only God (or those he appoints) is allowed to perform miracles. Ordinary folks who perform such feats are considered suspect (by theists) if they’re lucky and heretical if they’re not. And on the scientific side, there is a widely held (but incorrect, as we’ll see) assumption that these phenomena cannot exist because they violate one or more scientific principles.”
― Dean Radin, Supernormal: Science, Yoga and the Evidence for Extraordinary Psychic Abilities

“Those whose acquaintance with scientific research is derived chiefly from its practical results easily develop a completely false notion of the mentality of the men who, surrounded by a sceptical world, have shown the way to those like-minded with themselves, scattered through the earth and the centuries.…”
― Dean Radin, Supernormal: Science, Yoga and the Evidence for Extraordinary Psychic Abilities

“Many ancient teachings tell us that we have the capacity to gain extraordinary powers through grit or grace. Techniques used to achieve these supernormal abilities, known as siddhis in the yoga tradition (from the Sanskrit, meaning “perfection”2, 5), include meditation, ecstatic dancing, drumming, praying, chanting, sexual practices, fasting, or ingesting psychedelic plants and mushrooms. In modern times, techniques also include participation in extreme sports, floating in isolation tanks, use of transcranial magnetic or electrical stimulation, listening to binaural-beat audio tones, and neurofeedback. Most of these techniques are ways of transcending the mundane. Those who yearn to escape from suffering or boredom may dive into a cornucopia of sedatives and narcotics. Others, drawn to the promise of a more meaningful reality, or a healthier mind and body, are attracted to yoga, meditation, or other mind-expanding or mind-body integrating techniques.”
― Dean Radin, Supernormal: Science, Yoga and the Evidence for Extraordinary Psychic Abilities

“The above two quotes are indeed in the book Supernormal, but they are not by Dean Radin. The first is a quote from Rick Strassman regarding a person's experience on a DMT trip, and the second is by Einstein.”
― Dean Radin, Supernormal: Science, Yoga and the Evidence for Extraordinary Psychic Abilities

“Perhaps the only limits to the human mind are those we believe in. —Willis Harman”
― Dean Radin, Supernormal: Science, Yoga and the Evidence for Extraordinary Psychic Abilities

“Many scientific and scholarly disciplines are slowly coming around to the idea that consciousness is far more important than previously imagined. This shift of opinion, combined with the idea that reality is a form of information, provides a renewed appreciation of ancient esoteric Legends about magic. If we can get past the supernatural connotations, the religious figures in prohibitions, and the occult baggage, then through the scientific study of magic we have the potential to make rapid progress and gaining a better understanding of who and what we are. If we can’t escape or pass, then we may be running headlong into extinction.
Magic is real.
Let’s deal with it.”
― Dean Radin, Real Magic: Ancient Wisdom, Modern Science, and a Guide to the Secret Power of the Universe

“But second, reality viewed through the lens of science is an exceedingly thin slice of the whole shebang. Science is tightly focused on the objective, measurable, physical world. That focus excludes the one and only thing you can ever know for sure—your consciousness, that inner spark of”
― Dean Radin, Real Magic: Ancient Wisdom, Modern Science, and a Guide to the Secret Power of the Universe

“I’m reading a book about anti-gravity. I can’t put it down.”
― Dean Radin, Supernormal: Science, Yoga and the Evidence for Extraordinary Psychic Abilities

“No part of the aim of normal science is to call forth new sorts of phenomena; indeed those that will not fit the box are often not seen at all.”
― Dean Radin, The Conscious Universe: The Scientific Truth of Psychic Phenomena

“As another example, in samyama one may focus on the processes of time, change, and transformation. The siddhi that arises is the simultaneous perception of the past, present, and the future. The idea that the present contains the past is common knowledge; we call this memory. The idea that the present is also influenced by the future may seem odd, but this quasi-teleological concept is accommodated within today’s physics.153 For example, in quantum theory the idea that the present is constrained by both the past and the future is respectable, but of greater importance, there is now experimental evidence supporting it, published in 2012 in the journal Nature Physics.154 The originators of this concept are not mystics. They include physicist Yakir Aharonov, who was awarded the US National Medal of Science in 2010 and is regarded as one of the world’s leading quantum theorists.155, 156 The future influencing the present might sound strange, but practically everything seems strange the moment we step outside of the everyday world and probe either the inner depths or the outer limits of reality. Likewise, the siddhis seem contrary to common sense only because they arise from depths of awareness that lie far beyond the common senses.”
― Dean Radin, Supernormal: Science, Yoga and the Evidence for Extraordinary Psychic Abilities

“However, the Tibetan practice of tummo meditation, where tummo roughly means “inner fire,” cultivates a mind-body connection in which extreme cold that would quickly kill an untrained person can be comfortably tolerated for minutes to hours. Tummo meditation may be related to the yogic concept of kundalini energy, a life-force energy said to circulate within the body. When properly focused, yogic lore says that it’s possible to generate enough heat to sit still in freezing cold without harm. This claim was tested in Tibetan monks and confirmed by Harvard University’s Herbert Benson and his colleagues.158 While this ability is now known to be possible, the underlying mechanism remains a mystery.”
― Dean Radin, Supernormal: Science, Yoga and the Evidence for Extraordinary Psychic Abilities

“The newly developing worldview suggests, for example, that it is no longer tenable to imagine that the universe is a mindless clockwork mechanism. Something else seems to be going on, something involving the mind and consciousness in important ways.”
― Dean Radin, Supernormal: Science, Yoga and the Evidence for Extraordinary Psychic Abilities

“Still others propose that the only unambiguous way to avoid the role of the observer in physics is to deny the belief that we have free will.310 While free will as a persistent brain-generated illusion is a popular idea in the neurosciences today,171 that idea remains at odds with the only direct form of contact we will ever have with reality—subjective experience—which paradoxically allows for the experience of deciding to believe that free will does not exist.”
― Dean Radin, Supernormal: Science, Yoga and the Evidence for Extraordinary Psychic Abilities

“Beyond the fine points of how to properly interpret esoteric experiences, many mystical traditions also claim that there are methods one can use to develop a direct realization of these states. According to psychiatrist and meditation researcher Roger Walsh: Comparison across traditions suggests that there are seven practices that are widely regarded as central and essential for effective transpersonal development. These seven are an ethical lifestyle, redirecting motivation, transforming emotions, training attention, refining awareness, fostering wisdom, and practicing service to others. Contemplative traditions posit that meditation is crucial to this developmental process because it facilitates several of these processes.64 (page 28) Modern physics has achieved its own version of the perennial philosophy through the development of quantum theory. While many workaday physicists shudder over popular misinterpretations of their precious mathematical models, the founders of quantum mechanics were keenly aware of the radical philosophical changes brought about by their new theory. They wrote about it extensively, and most of them ended up sounding like full-blown mystics.”
― Dean Radin, Supernormal: Science, Yoga and the Evidence for Extraordinary Psychic Abilities

“As a short aside, it is useful to know that there are a variety of technical definitions for the term “nonlocal” within physics, but the basic concept is straightforward. Everyday common sense tells us that physical objects interact by bashing into each other. By contrast, fields, like gravity, do not seem to follow this simplistic idea, but fields too eventually came to be interpreted as forces carried by particles traveling at the speed of light. Within classical physics the idea of fields and forces seemed to describe just about everything. Everything, that is, except some peculiarities about the nature of light. To gain a deeper understanding of light, quantum mechanics was developed, and out of that our understanding of basic physical concepts like force and causality went through a radical transformation. To trace this history in detail would require a major diversion from the discussion at hand, so let’s just say that a nonlocal effect is an interaction that does not involve force, nor does it involve the transfer of signals, and it happens instantaneously regardless of the distance between the objects. Instantaneously does not mean faster than the speed of light; rather, it means without any time passing at all. Later in this book we will return to quantum concepts, which can be difficult to grasp because they strongly violate common sense.”
― Dean Radin, Supernormal: Science, Yoga and the Evidence for Extraordinary Psychic Abilities

“Like Wheeler, very few scientists would be happy about being associated in any way with the dreaded label “pseudoscience.” Besides incurring the fear and loathing of the mainstream, those conducting research on topics stamped “pseudoscience” may find that funding sources mysteriously dry up, journals refuse to publish their research, and opportunities for academic tenure vanish. The difficulty of getting scientists to attempt to replicate, or even pay attention to, psi experiments is related to what Thomas Gold of Cornell University has called the “herd effect.” This is the tendency for scientists (or any people, for that matter) to cluster together in groups where only certain ideas or techniques are acceptable. A scientific herd forms for essentially the same reason that sheep form a herd—to protect individuals. It is very risky for one’s career to stand apart from the herd, given the rapidly diminishing likelihood that one can continue to practice science outside the herd. Without exception, scientists who conduct psi research are high risk-takers, because the academic world lets them know very quickly that “we don’t take kindly to strangers in these here parts.” Psychological Factors It is well known that most scientists are “theory-driven” rather than “data-driven.” This means that scientists are uncomfortable with “facts” unless some theory can explain them. Parapsychological “facts” are uncomfortable because there are no well-accepted explanations for why the facts should exist. This does not mean that no scientific theories of psychic phenomena exist; actually, there are dozens. It is the adequacy of the theories that is in question. Being theory-driven also means that scientists fail to see data that contradict their theoretical expectations. This does not mean that they fail to understand the data, but rather that they have a strong tendency literally not to perceive the offending data. As discussed in some detail in chapter 14, a substantial body of conventional psychological research supports this strong consequence. Witnessing this effect in action is truly astonishing. It is like trying to get a dog to look at something that you know he will find interesting. “There it is! Look at the evidence there!” Where? I don’t see anything. “There I say. Look where I’m pointing, not at my hand!” Nope, I don’t see anything.”
― Dean Radin, The Conscious Universe: The Scientific Truth of Psychic Phenomena

“So something interesting is going on. But how can we begin to understand these effects without doing violence to known physics? The yogic approach to the siddhis offers a clue. Yoga says that the siddhis do not arise as a result of magical fairy dust, but rather because the mind is trained to become progressively more sensitive to the holistic nature of reality that we normally can’t apprehend. That is, telepathy arises not because something is transmitted between Gail and Tom, but because from a holistic perspective the objects we perceive as “Gail” and “Tom” are not as separate as they seem. At a deeper level of reality, there is no separateness, including no isolated Gails and Toms. From that view, Gail can know Tom’s mind because a part of Gail is already identical with a part of Tom.”
― Dean Radin, Supernormal: Science, Yoga and the Evidence for Extraordinary Psychic Abilities