Evolutionary Theory
An Esalen Invitational Conference
October 5 to 10, 2003

Evolution and the Extra-ordinary Capacities of Body and Mind
Michael Murphy and Marilyn Schlitz

For the body: the Alexander method, Charlotte Selver's sensory awareness, and various neo-Reichian therapies for enhancing bodily functioning, which are now embraced by the field of "somatics" or "somatic education;"

For the mind and emotions: new approaches to psychological development such as Psychosynthesis and gestalt therapy that focus on the broadening of emotional and behavioral repertoires and the cultivation of high level functioning rather than "adjustment" to everyday life or the elimination of psychopathology;

For the body-mind complex: contemporary developments in sport psychology, including the use of mental disciplines from the martial arts, such as aikido, for athletic training and competition;

For the spirit:once-esoteric ways of growth such as Christian, Jewish, and Islamic contemplative exercises, Tibetan yogas, Indian Tantric practices, and Native American shamanic rituals.

After witnessing for nearly a decade at Esalen a robust exploration of the furthest reaches of human nature, in the early 1970s Murphy stepped back and started to look for common patterns among the various growth programs that had been featured. As part of a project to promote emotional as well as cognitive intelligence in elementary and high school education, Esalen already had conducted an inventory of therapies, meditation techniques, and other transformative practices from 1968 to 1970 under the auspices of the Ford Foundation. The authors of that inventory identified some 200 ways of growth, including those mentioned above, which between them comprised several thousand methods for self-cultivation. As an outgrowth of his own contributions to this inventory, Murphy began to collect instances of extraordinary human experience and started to identify ways in which various practices trigger or support them. In 1976, this informal effort was systematized when he and a colleague at Esalen organized a scholarly archive of scientific and anecdotal evidence for extra-ordinary human capacities. This archive included items as diverse as articles from the New England Journal of Medicine, dossiers from the Medical Bureau at Lourdes detailing scientifically inexplicable cures observed at the famous shrine, interviews with outstanding athletes about altered states of consciousness that accompanied their record-breaking feats, and articles from the nineteenth century journal The Zoist on amputations and other operations conducted with mesmeric anaesthesia. Today, this archive of nearly 10,000 records is housed in the library at the University of California at Santa Barbara.

Also in the decade of the 1970s, Murphy started working with world-class athletes to study their various training methods, such as those of sprinter Lee Evans and his coach Bud Winter. (Evans won the gold medal for the 400 meter race in the Mexico City Olympics of 1968.) As Murphy interviewed a variety of top athletes, including professional football players and golfers, he started to conceive of extra-ordinary human experience less as "subjective states" and more as general "attributes" of human nature. One of the attributes Murphy honed his eye on first was extra-ordinary movement. His attention was brought to this field when he learned that some sprinters would report a phenomenon they called "tipping" (which is the experience of unnatural levity or a slight floating off of the ground when sprinting). Working with sprinters eventually led Murphy to see if similar extra-ordinary movement abilities were reported in other cultures and times. To his surprise, he found that religious adepts had testified to a little-known Catholic charism called "ecstatic walking" (in which people experience a spontaneous feeling of lifting off from, or feeling much more lightly on, the ground). Murphy next realized that this bore a close resemblance to the extraordinary locomotion of Tibetan yogis resulting from lung-gom training, which was catalogued by the European scholar Lama Govinda. Soon, Murphy found the book Indian Running by Peter Nabokov, which discusses incredible multi-day running events among Native American tribes. And he also came upon the feats of prodigious running by the Tarahumara Indians of Mexico, which have been photographed by Karl Kernberger.

When describing his study of this variety of extra-ordinary movement skills to the conference participants, Murphy noted that a cross-cultural and comparative analysis of human attributes has become central to his method. He now thinks that this approach can help identify "family resemblances" among otherwise isolated and aberrant phenomena, which have been given different names by different cultures, or which for some other reason have not been considered the same sort of experience.

Murphy’s long-term research throughout the 1970s and 80s resulted eventually in the publication of a scholarly compendium titled The Future of the Body (Tarcher/Putnam, 1992), which summarized the data housed in the larger archive of extra-ordinary human attributes. In this book Murphy divided the attributes he had catalogued into twelve groups, including not just movement abilities, but perceptual skills, kinesthetic awareness, communication abilities, overall vitality, cognition, volition, and others (see The Future of the Body for the full list). After presenting this data, Murphy offered an evolutionary interpretation of extra-ordinary human attributes, in which he hypothesized that most, if not all, of the instances of the extra-ordinary can be understood as further evolutionary expressions of common human attributes inherited from our animal ancestors. Murphy said that the big advantage of his evolutionary classification scheme is that it brings order to an often-bewildering array of human phenomena, revealing what may be the most fundamental pattern that connects them. In so doing, it shows the close similarity, or identity, of certain experiences that for various reasons seem unconnected. For example, the diversely reported phenomena of:

kundalini heat reported in Hindu-Buddhist practice
the "boiling n/um" of Kalahari busmen
the incendium amoris of Catholic saints
the tumo of Tibetan yogis
the "magical heat" of stone age shamans
the supernormal energy of some modern athletes

can through the lens of Murphy’s grouping be recognized as slightly different expressions of the same attribute, namely supernormal vitality. From an evolutionary perspective, such vitality can then in turn be viewed as a further development of the warm-blooded freedom from environmental vicissitudes that appeared in the evolution of birds and mammals.

Murphy hypothesized that the full range of human attributes, when considered as a whole, constitutes the ongoing expression of the world’s evolutionary advance. And given that these attributes continue to be reported today in diverse cultural settings, their ongoing expression suggests that there is some sort of telos in evolution—a common purpose or goal that stretches across various mammalian species. In The Future of the Body, Murphy wrote:

. . . a frog's dim perception of light, the enhanced human vision produced by sensory training, and the apprehension of extraordinary color and vibrancy reported by contemplatives seem to form a clear line of progress, produced in turn by natural selection, sensory education, and the ego-transcending gifts, or graces, of contemplative practice. Even though these three kinds of experience (and the psychophysical modifications upon which they depend) come into existence by different processes, they appear to be stages of a single development from rudimentary sentience to supernormal perception. . . . such advance suggests that evolution is influenced by purposes or agencies that to some extent subsume the mechanisms presently described by mainstream science. They invite us to wonder whether nature has a telos, or creative tendency to manifest supernormal activities, a drive or attraction toward greater ends that appropriates the processes of any (evolutionary) domain to produce more developed capacities.

In short, Murphy proposed in his book, and to the participants in this conference, that such attributes appear in disparate cultures and in all sorts of circumstances because they are part of a universal evolutionary potential for humanity. They are indications of a greater human nature pressing to be born in us. Murphy suggested that they might be viewed as the budding limbs and organs of humanity’s latent "supernature" (a term coined by the twentieth century Hindu scholar and sage Sri Aurobindo).

To connect his own research to the concept of emergence discussed earlier in the conference, Murphy said that he thinks there is an irrepressibly emergent quality in human life. That which is novel, unsought, or unpredictable comes forth frequently in human experience. Such unsought subjective states or attributes often emerge after long plateaus of rigorous practice (whether practice at sprinting, swinging a golf club, or sitting Zen on a meditation cushion). Murphy invoked Stuart Kauffman’s notion of the continuous expansion into the chemical adjacent possible, when he suggested that human nature has an adjacent possible of its own. Humanity is constantly expanding into (or emerging into) novel states of experience—our own adjacent possible of the extra-ordinary. And this realm is at the center of what Murphy has been documenting for more than thirty years.

Before concluding, Murphy mentioned some intriguing experimental results that he had learned of recently. In the 1990s Murphy developed with George Leonard an integral growth practice called Integral Transformative Practice, or ITP for short. A few years ago, Stanford University’s medical school launched a multi-year pilot study of the effectiveness of ITP in populations over 50 years of age. A few weeks before this conference, Murphy learned of some of the initial results of the study. Of the numerous interesting results, one that stood out was a robust increase in IQ scores. The average participant in the Stanford research protocol experienced IQ scores go up by 9 to 12 points after participating in the 3-year program. These robust changes in human capacity over a relatively short time suggest that the "adjacent possible" of our human nature can be tapped more readily than we might think.

In conclusion, Murphy emphasized that there is a general trend in Western philosophy and psychology either to pathologize or ignore exceptional or extra-ordinary human experiences and attributes. He speculated that the reason for this is the failure of Western thought to provide a broad enough worldview to account for these experiences. Murphy said flatly that the human race simply has not created a worldview or vision of human possibility adequate to the data to our own latent nature.

In response to Murphy’s presentation, Terrence Deacon mentioned the concept of brain "automization." Deacon suggested that it is possible that some of the extra-ordinary skills that Murphy has studied may be related to the human brain’s ability to "automize" (or run as if on automatic) functions and tasks that it has learned through repetition. Tasks, skills, and practices that are at one point difficult become "second nature" to the brain. This frees us up to have emergent experiences because our body and brain are no longer working so hard to do something that may have been challenging at first.

In response to the self-transcending quality of evolution that Murphy has documented with the extra-ordinary human attributes, Telmo Pievani invoked the work of Francisco Varela. Varela’s notion of "a feminine ontology" of permissivity and possibility seems well-suited to Murphy’s view of a self-transcending quality to evolution at all levels.

On Wednesday afternoon Director of Research at the Institute for Noetic Sciences (IONS) Marilyn Schlitz gave an overview of a variety of parapsychology studies. She described a number of experiments that she has been directly involved with over the past couple decades as well as some other well-regarded experiments in this field, which have inquired into the possibility that the one person’s mind can influence another’s mind and/or body non-locally (through distant prayer and dream imagery, for example). After covering this material, Schlitz then described the experimental work of Helmut Schmidt, who has done several experimental trials looking at how the human mind may be able to influence physical objects. In her conclusion, Schlitz offered some general reflections on how we might think about these "extra-ordinary" abilities from an evolutionary perspective.

Schlitz started by briefly describing some common terms that are used by parapsychologists and consciousness researchers. The term telepathy signifies non-local (and non-physical) mind-to-mind communication or transfer of recognizable information or images. The term clairvoyance signifies the ability to perceive, or imagine accurately, objects that exist at far distances (sometimes called remote viewing). And lastly, the term psychokinesis (called PK for short) signifies the ability of the human mind to influence physical objects at a distance without touching them (so-called mind over matter). Sometimes all three of these terms are grouped together and called "psi phenomena" or "psi abilities" for short.

The first experimental trial that Schlitz described was conducted at the Maimonides Medical Center in the 1960s and 70s, which looked at the effects of dream telepathy. Conducted by Stanley Krippner, this study was similar to what are called Ganzfeld studies, which took place in the early twentieth century. The foundation of this experimental method is to wake someone up out of REM (rapid eye movement) sleep in one room, while simultaneously in another isolated room, someone is looking at a picture. Krippner’s results showed that the person who was dreaming often incorporated images strikingly similar to those being viewed simultaneously by an awake person looking at a picture in the other room.

Schlitz said that a similar experiment was conducted at the Psychophysical Research Laboratory in Princeton by Charles Honorton, who followed the Ganzfeld procedures. In this case the subject would not be sleeping but rather have his or her senses restricted (sight and hearing) in order to facilitate the ability to detect or receive subtler mind-like information. Simultaneously, someone would be in the other room watching a video clip. According to this study, there was a 33% success rate by the test subjects with restricted senses at describing accurately the video imagery. Schlitz has conducted similar experiments of her own following the original Ganzfeld protocols. In one study at Princeton, for example, Schlitz had students from the Julliard School of the Arts in New York come to her laboratory. While average populations would generally score a 33% success rate in these experiments, the students of Julliard scored 50%. Classical musicians, in particular, stood out as ones capable of successfully guessing the video images being watched in the other room. They scored as high as 75% in their ability to report images accurately. Another study conducted by Kathy Dalton in Scotland for her Ph.D. thesis achieved similar results. Dalton too sampled artists and creative-types in her experiment and likewise found that classical musicians stood out. In order to test the validity this classical musician phenomenon, Schlitz is currently conducting a study at Stanford University using the same protocols.

Next, Schlitz described other studies that have looked at the nature of human intentionality and the ability to affect the physical well-being of others non-locally. Schlitz’s own interest in this area of research grew out of her doctoral work in anthropology with indigenous healers in South America, many of whom report the ability to affect non-locally the mental and physical health of others. In one study Schlitz conducted, subjects were isolated in a room and connected to a set of sensors measuring galvanic skin response. Meanwhile, in another room someone intermittently would "send" thoughts to that person. Schlitz pointed out that the experiment was randomized to ensure that there was no easily detectable pattern to the sending periods. Although not every experiment showed statistically significant results, when all of the trials were averaged out, there was a significant finding revealing a greater galvanic skin response during the periods when thoughts were being intentionally sent.

In another study at Stanford conducted with Stephen LaBerge, Schlitz looked at the nature of remote staring. The experiment was set up so that in one room a person was being monitored by a video camera, while in another room someone intermittently stared at that person through the video camera’s lens. The two participants were completely shielded from each other physically. Again, the person being stared at showed a higher galvanic skin response and greater autonomic nervous activity during the periods when stared at.

What made this last set of results even more interesting was what happened next. To ensure the validity of her data, Schlitz enrolled the assistance of a skeptical researcher from the University of Hertsfordsher named Richard Wiseman (a professional magician). Following all of the same protocols that Schlitz did, Wiseman did not get any significant results. To see if he had done anything different, Schlitz went to England and did the experiment together with Wiseman. What they found is that the subjects who did the experiment with Schlitz got results, while Wiseman’s did not. These findings were repeated in a second study conducted in Schlitz’s lab in California. Altogether, this has led Schlitz to postulate that there is a significant "experimenter effect" influencing the results. She conjectures that her own openness and positive attitude, in contrast to Wiseman’s skepticism, does in fact influence the experimental outcome. Even the skeptic Wiseman now believes there is something significant going on in the studies, although he is not certain what it is yet. One idea Schlitz has for the next round of experiments is to have Wiseman interview and set up the experiment with one group of subjects and then at the last minute have Schlitz do the actual testing, and vice versa. This way they can attempt to see if it is the preparation and setting of expectations that is creating the effect or if it occurs during the actual testing itself.

After describing the above experiments looking primarily at telepathy and clairvoyance, Schlitz turned to describe a series of experiments testing psychokinesis (PK), many of which were conducted by quantum physicist Helmut Schmidt. Over several years, Schmidt has conducted experiments with random number generators (RNGs), which use a variety of means to produce a random sequence of "0s" and "1s." For example, Schmidt has used radioactive decay as one way to achieve a random distribution of numbers. Schlitz said that researchers Dean Radin and Roger Nelson recently did a meta-analysis of 515 RNG experiments, which were conducted by 91 different experimenters, including Schmidt’s work. Conducted over a 41 year period, these 515 experiments revealed an average bias away from the expected pure random distribution of numbers (meaning there was either more "0s" or more "1s" in a given trial). While describing this meta-analysis, Schlitz pointed out that the RNG results were independent of the particular device used to generate the randomness (e.g., radioactivity, etc.).

One of the hypotheses mentioned by both Schlitz and Schmidt to account for the result is the so-called observer effect in quantum physics. Certain interpretations of quantum mechanics hypothesize that nothing exists in a definitive state until it is "observed" (e.g., Bohr’s Copenhagen interpretation and John Wheeler’s participatory approach). Well-aware of these views in quantum physics, Helmut Schmidt deliberately devised some of his experiments to test the quantum observer effect. For example, he did some trials in which no one would look at a series of randomly generated numbers. Then, he would ask a skeptic to assign direction to the distribution (that is, see if he can mentally make it result in more "1s" or more "0s"). Schmidt devised several protocols to see if the results would be different under different circumstances. After trying a variety of different means of "observing" or "directing" the number distribution, what became apparent was that what seemed to make the most difference was the intention of the first observer of the system of random numbers. Only the first observer could make an effect on the distribution of the numbers, while subsequent observers did not have an effect. This seemed to be possible even if the act of observation occurred several days or weeks after the random numbers were generated.

One hypothesis offered to explain this result is that the random numbers are like quantum events: they remain in an indeterminate state until observed. Then, the observation collapses the wave state into a particle state. Apparently, this is possible both backward or forward in time. People can skew the randomness of the distribution of "0s" and "1s" both before and after the actual physical generation of the numbers by the RNG. Somehow, it seems that the information becomes "meaningful" or determinate only during the moment of intentional "observation" or "measurement."

Frank Poletti pointed out that this seemingly bizarre time-defying notion bears a resemblance to physicist John Wheeler’s delayed choice experiments with photons. Wheeler and other physicists have conducted experiments showing that the ambiguous wave or particle state of a photon can be determined (or measured as either a particle or wave) even after "it" has passed a fateful determining point (such as a beamsplitter) that would make it either a particle or a wave, but not both. Wheeler’s experiments seemed to show that photons are "undecided" until definitively observed, even if those same photons have passed through a beam splitter.

The last experimental trial that Schlitz described briefly is being supported by funds from the NIH’s alternative medicine division. It is looking at the speed of wound healing in women who have had mastectomies. This study is being conducted at the UC San Francisco medical school, which has a large wound healing lab. It is looking at the rate of collagen deposition in a patch of skin under a polyurethane patch. Schlitz and the team of researchers at the school are following strict protocols, including randomization and informed consent. It will take three years to complete this trial, and issues such as the placebo effect and patient expectancy are being monitored closely.

After presenting this broad range of—what was for many—challenging and controversial experimental data, Schlitz offered some reflections from the perspective of evolutionary theory. First, she said that an important general question to ask is what role does consciousness and conscious intention play in shaping evolution? (See comments at the end of Phil Clayton’s presentation for more on this question.) Second, are there certain contexts in our evolutionary past in which intentionally directed non-local mental abilities might have been an adaptive response or attribute? Is it possible that humans developed these skills over the course of thousands of years when were subsisting as hunters and gatherers? Third, Schlitz said that the modern environment of global television, computers, and cell phones is rapidly diminishing the need for such skills (if they exist). This fact led Schlitz to another question, which is whether humans are evolving toward or away from these capacities? Schlitz speculated that in the past humans would have had a lot more need for these capacities, due to living in extreme and hostile climates. So, if Schlitz and others have convincing and reliable data, then today humanity still seems to harbor these abilities in a latent form, and they can be enhanced through certain practices (the enhanced mental imagery recognition ability of classical musicians, for example). Overall, if it is true that human consciousness has non-local properties that transcend the human body and brain, then this certainly raises many thorny questions about causality as it is understood by Western physics. It also raises ethical concerns, particularly with respect to prayer for the ill.

Further Questions for Evolution and the Extra-ordinary Capacities of Body and Mind

How can the metaphorical richness of ideas like "emergence" and "adjacent possible" be applied in the human and cultural realms without watering down the rigorous science involved in the biological understanding of these terms?

If emergent properties are indeed a natural part of the universe’s evolutionary process, then what do earlier moments of emergence (emergence of life and mind) suggest about possibilities for emergence now?

The extra-ordinary capacities of the human mind described by Schlitz are striking, if true. Of all the abilities tested experimentally by Schlitz, which ones violate the current understanding of physical causality the most?

Do the non-local properties observed as part of quantum entanglement (Bell’s theorem, instantaneous spin correlations, etc.) suggest a worthy line of investigation for finding a physical causal explanation for Schlitz’s data?