Retrocognition (also known as postcognition), from the Latin Latin is an Italic language originally spoken in Latium and Ancient Rome. With the Roman conquest, Latin was spread to countries around the Mediterranean, including a large part of Europe. Romance languages such as Aragonese, Corsican, Catalan, French, Italian, Portuguese, Romanian, Sardinian, Spanish and others, are descended from Latin, while retro meaning "backward, behind" and cognition meaning "knowing", describes "knowledge of a past event which could not have been learned or inferred by normal means".[1] The term was coined by Frederic W. H. Myers Frederic William Henry Myers , was an English poet, essayist and psychical researcher. He was the elder son of Frederic Myers (the author of Lectures on Great Men (1856) and Catholic Thoughts (first collected 1873)).[2]
Retrocognition has long been held by scientific researchers into psychic phenomena to be untestable, given that, in order to verify that an accurate retrocognitive experience has occurred, it is necessary to consult existing documents and human knowledge, the existence of which permits some contemporary basis of the knowledge to be raised.[3] For instance, if you purport retrocognitive knowledge that "Winston Churchill killed a parrot", the only way of verifying that knowledge would be to consult extant sources of Churchill's activities. If it is found that he did, indeed, kill a parrot at one time, it could be said that you "simply" obtained contemporary knowledge of this fact (by clairvoyance or telepathy, if needs be, of the relevant documents or someone's knowledge of them), rather than directly perceived – in the manner of retrocognition – any event in Churchill's past. Given this fundamental logical difficulty, there has been very little experimental investigation by parapsychologists of retrocognition. The evidence for retrocognition has, therefore, been limited to naturalistic cases suggestive of the phenomenon.
The most popularly celebrated case of retrocognition concerns the visions in 1901 of Annie Moberly and Eleanor Jourdain – two scholars and early administrators of British university education for women – as they tried to find their way to Marie Antoinette's private château, the Petite Trianon. Becoming lost on their way, they believed that they instead came unto the Queen's presence itself. They published an account of their experience in 1911 as An Adventure. Moberly and Jourdain described how they had become convinced, over the following weeks, that persons they saw and even spoke to on that occasion – given certain details of dress, accent, topography and architecture – must have been of a presumed recollection by Marie Antoinette, on August 10, 1792, of her last days at Trianon in 1789. While often considered in popular literature as evidence for retrocognition, the book was immediately dismissed by Eleanor Sidgwick, a leading member of the British Society for Psychical Research The Society for Psychical Research is a non-profit organization which started in the United Kingdom and was later imitated in other countries. Its stated purpose is to understand "events and abilities commonly described as psychic or paranormal by promoting and supporting important research in this area" and to "examine allegedly, in an article published in its Proceedings, as the product of mutual confabulation Confabulation is the formation of false memories, perceptions, or beliefs about the self or the environment as a result of neurological or psychological dysfunction. When it is a matter of memory, confabulation is the confusion of imagination with memory, or the confused application of true memories. Confabulations are difficult to differentiate.[4][5]
Trivia
- Many fictional characters in television and movies exhibit this ability, examples of such would be Angela Petrelli of Heroes Heroes is an American science fiction television drama series created by Tim Kring, which premiered on NBC on September 25, 2006. The series tells the stories of ordinary people who discover superhuman abilities, and how these abilities take effect in the characters' lives. The series emulates the aesthetic style and storytelling of American comic, Phoebe Halliwell Phoebe Halliwell is a fictional character from the American television program Charmed, and one of the four leading characters featured during the series' run. The character is primarily portrayed by actress Alyssa Milano, as well as a few other notable actresses during different stages of the character's life. Initially Phoebe begins the series of Charmed Charmed is an American television series that originally aired from October 7, 1998, until May 21, 2006, on The WB Television Network. The series was created in 1998 by writer Constance M. Burge and was produced by Aaron Spelling and his Spelling Television company, with the show runner being writer-director Brad Kern. The series narrative follows and Allison DuBois Allison DuBois is an American author and self-proclaimed medium. DuBois has claimed she uses her psychic abilities to help law enforcement agencies across the United States solve crimes, which formed the basis of the TV series Medium from Medium Medium is an American supernatural and dramatic television series which premiered on NBC on January 3, 2005. Its focus is Allison DuBois , who acts as a research medium for the Phoenix, Arizona district attorney's office. The lead character is a wife to loving husband, Joe, and the mother of three daughters who all inherited her gift, apparently.
References
- ^ Dale, L. A., & White, R. A. (1977). Glossary of terms found in the literature of psychical research and parapsychology. In B. B. Wolman (Ed.), Handbook of Parapsychology (pp. 921-936). New York, NY, US: Van Nostrand Reinhold.
- ^ Parapsychological Association The Parapsychological Association was formed in 1957 as a professional society for parapsychologists following an initiative by Joseph B. Rhine. Its purpose has been "to advance parapsychology as a science, to disseminate knowledge of the field, and to integrate the findings with those of other branches of science." It holds annual (2007). Glossary of Parapsychological terms - Retrocognition
- ^ Rhine, J. B. (1977). History of experimental studies. In B. B. Wolman (Ed.), Handbook of Parapsychology (pp. 25-47). New York, NY, US: Van Nostrand Reinhold.
- ^ Sidgwick, E. M. (1911). [Review of An Adventure]. Proceedings of the Society for Psychical Research, 25.
- ^ Iremonger, L. (1957). The ghosts of Versailles: Miss Moberly and Miss Jourdain and their Adventure: A critical study. London, UK: Faber & Faber.
External links
- Edgar Cayce
- Retrocognitions: An investigation into memories of past lives and the periods between lives by Wagner Alegretti
Categories: Parapsychology Parapsychology is the use of scientific methods to study paranormal psychological phenomena, such as extra-sensory perception, psychokinesis, and survival of consciousness after death. This category is limited to subjects involved with the field of parapsychology, which does not study all paranormal phenomena | Psychic powers Categories: Fictional superhuman features or abilities | Forteana | New Age practices | Occult | Paranormal | Parapsychology |
lagringadepr
Mon, 20 Mar 2006 18:46:26 GM
Rebeca, our in-depth analysis also shows you have other hidden psychic strengths including . retrocognition. (the ability to know what has happened in the past), telepathy (the ability to sense people's true thoughts) and clairvoyance (the ...
