Tom Butler Etheric Studies, (CC)2017 Seeking to Understand the Nature of Reality ethericstudies.org Open Letter to Paranormalists Limits of science, trust and responsibility Tom Butler, 2017 (Revised November 2017) Abstract This is a letter to members of the paranormalist community discussing lessons learned, as Co-Director of the ATransC, about science, scientists and research. The letter includes a brief discussion identifying paranormalists, dominant theories about the nature of paranormal phenomena and important considerations for their study. The intent is to advise paranormalists about the need for discernment concerning the intention of those who would study these phenomena. Introduction Science is good. The science practiced by parapsychologists is not necessarily good. Much of it is done to prove paranormalists are delusional. You and I know that, to prove we are delusional, they must ignore or falsely represent our evidence. Scientists are supposed to be our friends. Some are, but the majority consider the average paranormalist inferior iŶ ŵaŶLJ ǁaLJs … as seĐoŶd-class citizens that are not as smart, as well educated or as wise as people with a Ph.D. Most people calling themselves paranormalists are retired from unrelated careers and using the study of paranormal phenomena as a hobby. They are likely less informed about the actual nature of these phenomena than you, the practitioners and experiencers. If you come away from reading this with nothing else, I pray that you remember these points. If you want to see these phenomena properly studied, if you want informed scientists to help you understand your experiences, if you want to see this field of study evolve into a well-understood science, then it is important that you know who to trust, who to believe and with whom it is safe to trust your phenomena. It is important that you encourage the pretenders to go away so that real scientists will feel free to help. About This Letter While many of us look forward to the day a scientist will want to study our work, few of us realize the potential problems that can come from being studied. In simple terms, science is great, scientists are not always so great. It is for you to be aware of the differences, because many of those who have not been aware of the difference, have regretted ever volunteering to be research subjects. To understand the science of paranormal phenomena, it is necessary to understand the phenomena. You may not agree with the model I use for this letter, but take time to think about it. If I did the work correctly, the model should be reasonably close to what you believe and where science is going, if not in detail, at least in principle. The model is based on currently understood mainstream and parapsychological science. Unlike more widely accepted models, it is greatly informed by lessons learned from mediumship and Instrumental TransCommunication (ITC), especially Electronic Voice Phenomena (EVP). It will evolve over time, but for now, I am sticking with it because I need a target of sorts toward which I can develop arguments and collect supporting data. I suggest you also pick a story about which you can learn to talk. The Paranormalist Community In the context of this letter, paranormalist are people who experience, study or have a more than casual interest in psychic ability (psi functioning, remote viewing, healing intention), healing intention (biofield healing, distant healing,