Episode 34: Spirituality and Psychic Abilities
Episode 34 of M3CS’s Contemplative Science Podcast saw Michael Daw come on to the show to talk about his research into the potential relationship between spirituality, psychic abilities and diet.
For the full podcast, check out the episode here.
In this episode, we cover...
Examples of psychic abilities, including telepathy, precognition and psychokinesis.
The prevalence of dietary practice in Shamanism, Buddhism and Abrahamic religions.
Why spirituality is about the interconnectedness of all things.
Michael Daw is a doctoral researcher at Northampton University, pursuing a PhD in the relationship between dietary practice (particularly veganism, vegetarianism and fasting) and spiritual experiences.
Here are some of the key insights from the conversation...
In Michael’s opinion, psychic abilities are intrinsically connected to spirituality.
”For me, at least, spirituality is about the interconnectedness of all things. So if you believe that everything is connected at a sort of fundamental non-material level, then it seems natural to be able to share thoughts if you like, or even to interact with matter. Or your mind to interact with matter. I think that these, whilst they're kind of seen as psychic, I actually think that psychic abilities may be signs of a sort of certain level of tapping into spirituality.”
His interviews with psychic mediums revealed interesting insights into their diet.
”What's interesting, was some of my participants were saying that after they'd had transformative spiritual experiences... and a couple of them suddenly became able to manifest psychic abilities, they found that they couldn't eat meat anymore. It made them nauseous because they could picture the pain and suffering of the animal that had happened and they just couldn't do it. So, it was almost like that kind of awakening, enlightening experience turned them off meats and disgusted by the whole idea.”
The implications of quantum physics prove a fascinating link to psychic abilities.
”And it's interesting actually as well... when you look at surveys of scientists, how much they accept ESP (Extra Sensory Perception) and whether there's a God and so on... it tends to be biologists and psychologists who are the most atheistic and it tends to be the physicists and the mathematicians that are most open to a sort of spiritual side of things, which I think is really telling. And I think, you know, maybe biologists and psychologists need a bit more of a grounding in some of the implications about quantum physics.”
The best place to find Michael is here.
See you next week!
