Introduction

As stated in the book, Conjuring up Philip: An adventure in psychokinesis, written by Iris M. Owen, in the introduction written by her husband, Dr. A.R. George Owen, the “Group of 8’s” initial goals were to first find out whether seemingly interactive spirit communication could be produced in bright light. Secondly, they wanted to know if a spirit medium was necessary or if ordinary people could generate this phenomenon. Third, if this force was produced by a disembodied spirit or was caused by the experiment’s living participants. They also hoped for what they thought would be their pinnacle of success: to produce a collective hallucination of their imaginary friend Philip, which everyone could document and witness. Unfortunately, Philip never physically materialized, but amazingly their other objectives did. However, one question remains, perhaps to be answered by neuroscientists and metaphysicists of the future – what exactly is this phenomenon, and what is its cause? If this invisible psychokinetic force of “table-turning” is produced by living human consciousness via quasi-involuntary action, as famed scientist Michael Faraday was thinking, or the “ideo-motor principle” put forth by Dr. William B. Carpenter, then just how powerful are our brains and what else could be achieved? Or perhaps Philip was more like the concept of a tulpa or, more appropriately, to this situation, an egregore, and if so, does an element of Philip still exist somewhere in the ether, and what about the multitudes of manufactured entities throughout the ages? Maybe there is straight-up spirit activity in the mix? Most researchers who dabbled in this subject agreed that optimal success requires a firm belief in the possibility, eager anticipation of the interaction, and an unwavering expectation that results would be forthcoming. Although the Philip Experiment would eventually fade from scientific and public interest, there is renewed interest in the age-old wisdom that with focused intention combined with practice, the mind can create magic... or at least someone to talk to.

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