By Michael
Grosso, Ph.D.
(Rowman & Littlefield: Dec 14, 2015)
Why did you
choose to chronicle St. Joseph of Copertino?
St. Joseph of Copertino was known as a great
mystic with an array of supernormal powers.
His case is well documented and I chose him because his story is a
challenge to the dominant materialist worldview, which I think isn’t just false
but pernicious, the foundation of all that is problematic today.
Can you explain
his levitations scientifically?
I can describe the psychological and psychosocial
background of Joseph’s levitations, which have some explanatory power. But the
physics of levitation is a great mystery.
However, modern physics may hold the answer. By pondering the mystery of
levitation, science is forced to acknowledge the central role of mind in
nature. This would imply breaking the
paradigm that prevails in modern technological society.
What lessons are
you hoping the reader will take away from the book?
First of all, to remind the reader of all the
challenges to the mainstream reductive
worldview. So there’s a critical
leitmotif that runs throughout the book.
On the positive side, I hope that readers gain a more vivid sense of the
range and wonder of their own inner potential.
Science keeps opening us to the wonders of physical nature; it should be
equally open to the wonders of our internal environment: the infinite spaces of
vision and imagination, and the various powers, mental and physical, latent in
us all. Joseph is a striking example of how by regulating one’s internal
environment, and simplifying one’s life style, it’s possible to experience the
higher forms of conscious life.
What do you mean
by “materialism as ideology”?
Materialism is the academic theory that only
physical things exist. But as an
ideology it becomes a way of life, a policy or practice that privileges
material values. The ideology of
materialism undergirds militarism (force over diplomacy), capitalism (profit
over justice and compassion), consumerism (sick excess over sane
sustainability). The ideology of materialism is not an appeal to our better
angels but tends to pander our lower emotions such as fear and greed.
Why is
consciousness so important?
What else is there? We live in and through our consciousness
24/7. And yet it’s intangible,
invisible, nonphysical, a complete mystery to science. Through it we feel the world and each other,
remember the past, imagine and plan on possible futures, muster our wills to
fight the wrong, sense the colors, tones, smells, textures, and tastes of the
world. Through consciousness we dream
big dreams and glimpse the future and talk with shades of the dead. Through consciousness we demonstrate the
paranormal reach of the mind to other minds and to the external world. Through
consciousness we dance around time, recognizing the past and precognizing the
future. Through consciousness are expressed all the forms of psychokinesis,
from mind influencing falling dice to ecstatic levitations of saints, sufis,
and yogis. Through consciousness the
creative force of evolution is expressing itself. In history, through art,
science and technology. It’s up to each of us – to use our consciousness to
choose -- whether to impede or expand the scope of our conscious life.
Can we learn to
expand our consciousness? How?
All the great salvation systems have found ways of
lowering the mental barriers to the influx of higher forms of consciousness.
Breakthroughs may arise by chance, heroic virtue, illness, near-death,
intoxication, inspiration. And there are classic spiritual technologies: the
various yogas, shamanic and mystical practices, all involving the art of
concentrating the mind. Since infancy we have all been expanding our
consciousness. Why stop now? The maps have been drawn by explorers like
Lao-tzu, the Buddha, and Joseph of Copertino.
What can you tell
us about near-death experiences, out-of-body experiences,
Levitation? Ghosts and apparitions, and reincarnation?
Near-death experiences, out-of-body experiences, ghosts, apparitions, and reincarnation phenomena, are all about different ways we obtain evidence suggestive of life after death. Near-death and out-of-body experiences are glimpses of what seems like the next world to people who are still alive.
Near-death experiences are supposed to be impossible and strongly suggest survival. Ghosts and aparaitions seem to arise from people already passed over, and I can describe what criteria help us decide on whether a case suggests survival or not.
I myself have had a number of experiences I could not explain in current material terms. For example, I conducted a very successful levitation experiment in public. I was physically attacked by a ghost in a haunted house. I had three precognitive dreams of the near-assassination of President Reagan in 1981. And so on and so forth. So I can talk about this unconventional material from the inside, so to speak. In my opinion, there is evidence highly suggestive that consciousness survives death.
Near-death experiences are supposed to be impossible and strongly suggest survival. Ghosts and aparaitions seem to arise from people already passed over, and I can describe what criteria help us decide on whether a case suggests survival or not.
I myself have had a number of experiences I could not explain in current material terms. For example, I conducted a very successful levitation experiment in public. I was physically attacked by a ghost in a haunted house. I had three precognitive dreams of the near-assassination of President Reagan in 1981. And so on and so forth. So I can talk about this unconventional material from the inside, so to speak. In my opinion, there is evidence highly suggestive that consciousness survives death.
Explain miracles?
My view of a miracle would be any unexplained
event that occurs in a religious context. It’s a minimalist definition of
miracle. More important than
explanation, I think, is describing the phenomena, not just one case but the
whole pattern. If it is a miracle, even in my sense, it can’t be explained – at
least not yet. What interests me in this
book is showing the reality of these phenomena that constantly remind us how
little we really understand about our own minds.