This essay explores two questions: what happened to the interest in psi and anthropology that led to the founding of the Society for the Anthropology of Consciousness (SAC), and what is the relationship between the anthropology of consciousness and transpersonal psychology. The answers provide insight into SAC's historical origins and its relationship with the Association for Transpersonal Psychology.
The founding of the Society for the Anthropology of Consciousness (SAC) arose from a cultural and intellectual heritage, particularly a series of 1974 symposia that confronted the challenge posed by Carlos Castaneda. Castaneda argued that understanding the shamanic worldview requires becoming a shaman, because much of it is experiential and cannot be conveyed by an informant. Two central insights from his thesis are relevant to SAC: an aspect of human consciousness exists independent of time and space and is subject to volitional control, and all life forms are interconnected. The SAC represents a Kuhnian response to the reassessment Castaneda forced on anthropology.
Water and wine have long been linked to sacred rituals, and this paper examines what happens when those substances are subjected to nonlocal perturbation—focused intention from meditators. The changes can be both physical and aesthetic, affecting how people perceive the substances sensorially. In a 12-part experiment, groups of seven people tasted wine from a single bottle decanted into two identical carafes, one of which had been the focus of meditators' intentioned awareness beforehand. In 11 of the 12 sessions, a majority preferred the treated wine; one session ended in a tie. Statistical analysis indicates that the probability a majority would prefer the treated wine is at least 0.76 with 95% confidence. The paper discusses the broader implications of these findings.
Two centuries of reductive materialism have failed to explain extraordinary experiences such as moments of genius, religious epiphany, and psychic insight. This paper argues that these three experiences are fundamentally the same, differentiated only by intention and context, drawing on experimental research across science that supports an interdependent model of consciousness involving nonlocal linkage or entanglement not limited by space and time. It surveys relevant research from quantum biology, physics, psychology, medicine, anthropology, and parapsychology, and proposes greater attention to autobiographies and journals of historically recognized geniuses, saints, or psychics. Comparisons between ethnohistorical material and spiritual traditions suggest a similar worldview. Meditation research, seen as psychophysical self-regulation, is proposed as a powerful avenue for producing these exceptional experiences.