Beyond Survival Debates: Addressing the Source-of-Psi Problem with the Multiple Sources of Psi Hypothesis (Part I)

Abstract

Evidence from survival research has been supported by verified report data from reincarnation studies. Based on this collected evidence, supporters claim the survival hypothesis provides a better explanation for apparent post-mortem survival than the rival living agent psi hypothesis. There is no consensus on this issue, and many believe that efforts to bring empirical evidence to bear on survival debates have reached an impasse. An alternative psychic reservoir hypothesis proposes that information about the sentient experiences of intelligent organisms may be available to living and discarnate individuals with a certain level of psychic functioning. Studies analyzing mediumistic communications and psychic readings suggest that the source of psi cannot be unequivocally identified. A novel multiple sources of psi (MSoP) hypothesis is advanced, suggesting that aggregating diverse explanatory hypotheses with differing advantages may point the way toward some future solution in which current shortcomings may be overcome. This approach resolves the impasse between survival and living agent psi hypotheses, and has the advantage of compatibility with both reincarnation and psychic reservoir hypotheses.

Part I of this two-part article includes: Introduction, The Survival Hypothesis, Survival and Reincarnation, Survival and Mediumship, Survival and NDEs, Survival and Apparitions of the Dead, The LAP Hypothesis, and The Psychic Reservoir Hypothesis.