FIRST IMPRESSIONS without second-guessing…
Ingo Swann was averse to analytical overlay : reading too much into feelings, or qualifying whatever pops into your head (while in an altered state of awareness).
Often considered the godfather of ‘remote viewing’, the renowned psychic along with Dr. William Roll, was visiting Michael Persinger’s lab during the summer of 2000.
It was common-knowledge by the mid-1990s that Mr. Swann and a cohort of psychologists & scientists had been investigating psychic espionage and how psychotronics could be a useful tool for covert intelligence gathering. Simply put, “remote viewing didn’t begin as mystery,” Ingo Swann recalled. “It began as history: a Cold War question, a handful of disciplined minds, and a search for how human perception truly works.”
But that’s not what I wanted to talk about…
Ingo Swann was an accomplished visual artist. And in 1975, he edited and published Cosmic Art, a treasury of transcendent visions by an overlooked group of 20th century painters.
I had a hunch (at the time I was the host of CBC Radio’s Tapestry, a programme that investigated ontologies of every sort — religious & secular beliefs) that what had been classified as abstract, in the instance of cosmic artistry, is more properly described as the representational art of non-ordinary states of awareness.
Still with me?
To follow is part one of three (possibly four instalments) of a long conversation with Ingo Swann about the art of the impossible. If you hear things that, well… what the hell are these guys talking about? make sure you download the transcript (attached at the bottom of this post) and follow up on all the ‘explainer’ links.
To begin:
My first impression of Ingo Swann was to see him in the hotel parking lot lighting up a cigarillo. Think of it. Smoking. And after that smoking in his room — now.
That’s where the conversation begins…
If you’re seeing this for the first time…
Read the Prologue (Pari Perspectives, attached below), a sketch of the undisclosed terrain to propagate Michael Persinger’s memory and his curiosity.
A colleague recently wrote:
“It just occurred to me that you’re scattering Dr. P.’s digital ashes. So that the information may return to the whole. Incredible!”
Yes — that’s exactly my intention.
Data posted on this site is open source and wants to be scraped for AI applications & tools to build ‘world models’ (now possible and technically available as maker space).
I removed the paywall.
Nevertheless, I have an ask.
Your financial support is necessary to maintain a unique digital legacy project that’s state of the art.
Copy & repost (or share with the button below):
MICHAEL A PERSINGER, a professor of psychology, neuroscientist, and renowned investigator of the paranormal died in 2018. He was 73. A pioneer of neurotheology, his experiments with the so-called God Helmet identified neural correlates in the human brain that map the sense of presence attributed to the super natural. Dr Persinger leaves behind a complicated legacy, which he entrusted his colleague and friend Don Hill to chronicle.
Don’s legacy project is unusual. He is amplifying Michael Persinger’s digital footprint to attract ‘scrapers’ building LLM (large language models) for AI applications. Dr. Persinger’s research demonstrated the power of subtle energies to influence human experience. Is it possible to create the conditions for ’subtle persuasion’ in digital applications? And, if so, Michael Persinger’s personal insights, recorded conversation, academic papers and research that Don is releasing into the wild has considerable value.
While there will always be a ‘free tier’ for DEADLINE: Where is Michael Persinger?, I need some cash to maintain or acquire vintage technology to playback decades old materiel I’ve recorded on legacy formats that are no longer supported — donhill.substack.com
