• NEW! LOWEST RATES EVER -- SUPPORT THE SHOW AND ENJOY THE VERY BEST PREMIUM PARACAST EXPERIENCE! Welcome to The Paracast+, eight years young! For a low subscription fee, you can download the ad-free version of The Paracast and the exclusive, member-only, After The Paracast bonus podcast, featuring color commentary, exclusive interviews, the continuation of interviews that began on the main episode of The Paracast. We also offer lifetime memberships! Flash! Take advantage of our lowest rates ever! Act now! It's easier than ever to susbcribe! You can sign up right here!

    Subscribe to The Paracast Newsletter!

January 24, 2016 — Dr. Kirby Surprise


Gene Steinberg

Forum Super Hero
Staff member
This was a discussion rich with possibilities. So how much do we contribute to our personal reality anyway? Doesn't it sound like the conventional, simplified explanation of quantum mechanics?

Your responses are welcomed, and it will continue in this week's episode of After The Paracast, an exclusive feature of The Paracsat+. You can learn more here:

Introducing The Paracast+ | The Paracast — The Gold Standard of Paranormal Radio
 
Probably one of the best episodes for a long time - I am pretty much convinced that this line of thinking is providing a more factual analysis of what some of these 'paranormal' events are - especially in the realm of religion/spirituality/life after death.

I am slowly coming to a conclusion that there is no life after death, no diety or mysterious comfort blanket that humanity hangs it's hopes on. Although I always kept an open - mind because the evidence of some occurrence was too great - indeed all these people with their unique experience must be based on something at least perceived as real.

This enquiry is at last answering some of those uncomfortable questions that just didn't fit the proposed 'benign god agent, after life spiritual beings, angel and demons' approach.
Such as why do spirits wear clothes, why do demons appear as Christianity imagines them to be, why jesus or the virgin Mary since Christianity, and zeus and Jupiter or some pagan theme. Why only spirit contact with humans or pets, a ghost bird for instamce is a very rare encounter.

It all has to be emanating from our own projection - we are creating this illusion. The trickster phenomenon is a perfect demonstration of the budgie in the cage with the mirror.

I really believe that understanding who we are and how we interact with the universe is probably an avenue well worth going down in the study of the paranormal. But it's beginning to reveal a much more heartless and tragic truth - and I expect it will always be difficult for humanity to come to terms with - despite how religious or not you are - we all witness death.
 
I am only about a third through and it's possible my point was addressed later on but wanted to post prematurely to keep this thread on recent new posts column.

I thought Kirby's findings were interesting , that we have the capacity to while not exactly alter our reality we can increase the probability of something happening that we think about by 3%-6%. in fact i've been of the mind of late that is what happens when things that can't be scientifcally or medically explained happens without reason. I am of the thought that when a miracle happens that something on the order of what Kirby was talking about happens due to collective synchronized thinking and perhaps if something feels like destiny that is a singular person bumping up his or her odds that something of a personal nature will happen and becoming a self fulfilling prophecy thus giving the sense of destiny.

However i still have to wonder if when these events happen this is not what we would consider a coincidence. as i mentioned i had a series of coincidences... that would certainly fit under the umbrella of synchronicity...a few years back involving a mantis that was more like a meme that kept replicating itself in a number of ways over a period of several days, and this event has never once yet happened again even though i do experience by the boatload (one and dones i call them) what i would otherwise consider a coincidence which to me sounds closer to the mechanics of what Kirby was alluding to.

I guess what i am saying is that even if i had heard of this theory that Kirby has formulated years ago when i had this mantis episode i would still have to wonder if something else wasn't at play at the time.
(maybe i was one step closer to becoming more godly :);))I've always maintained that this one incidence, more than anything else steered me here to this forum and in doing so i became a much more receptive, aware and less judgemental person and gotten a least a little bit familiar with more esoteric thoughts and concepts that what i was at the time when i was mostly just about work, hiking and football other than that i cared little about the things around me (except for world events)

Would i have eventually gotten to this point even if i didn't have that adventure with the mantis meme? Perhaps so , but as it currently stands i still have to wonder what was i doing (even unconsciously) at that time to get me to where i am today ? Did i unknowingly unconsciously desire to become a more filled out individual and the mechanism i used was to bump up the odds by directing myself into a multi level synchronistic occurance, or was something else at play? i was certainly in some kind of groove at the time which has sadly now alluded me to this point and in a certain way i became an addict because whatever i was on at the time i got addicted to and i would love nothing more to get back in the groove.

It truly was transformative.
 
I am only about a third through...

However i still have to wonder if when these events happen this is not what we would consider a coincidence. as i mentioned i had a series of coincidences... that would certainly fit under the umbrella of synchronicity...a few years back involving a mantis that was more like a meme that kept replicating itself in a number of ways over a period of several days, and this event has never once yet happened again even though i do experience by the boatload (one and dones i call them) what i would otherwise consider a coincidence which to me sounds closer to the mechanics of what Kirby was alluding to.

I guess what i am saying is that even if i had heard of this theory that Kirby has formulated years ago when i had this mantis episode i would still have to wonder if something else wasn't at play at the time.
(maybe i was one step closer to becoming more godly :);))I've always maintained that this one incidence, more than anything else steered me here to this forum and in doing so i became a much more receptive, aware and less judgemental person and gotten a least a little bit familiar with more esoteric thoughts and concepts that what i was at the time when i was mostly just about work, hiking and football other than that i cared little about the things around me (except for world events)

Would i have eventually gotten to this point even if i didn't have that adventure with the mantis meme? Perhaps so , but as it currently stands i still have to wonder what was i doing (even unconsciously) at that time to get me to where i am today ? Did i unknowingly unconsciously desire to become a more filled out individual and the mechanism i used was to bump up the odds by directing myself into a multi level synchronistic occurance, or was something else at play? i was certainly in some kind of groove at the time which has sadly now alluded me to this point and in a certain way i became an addict because whatever i was on at the time i got addicted to and i would love nothing more to get back in the groove.

It truly was transformative.
can't wait for you to hear the rest of this episode and then see what you think about this, Wade. i'm wondering if this will mark a turning point or not in this extended narrative of yours. all experience is experience and valid because of that. choices we make about those experiences make us who we are. Surprise says reality is something we make up on our own. i'm about half way through and was very curious to know what you were thinking about this episode and checked here.

what i'm getting out of this is it's all f'ffed up as we expected it was. our thoughts affect the past. reality is something we make up in our heads everyday. life is all about Co-creation - take that Greg Bishop, @spacebrother ! reality is something that we're basically wrong about most of the time, synchronicity - or seeing patterns in the world is basically just us looking in a mirror - we look for patterns. we basically "just juggle stored sensory information," including our accumulated belief systems and then make decisions about things based on a "preponderance of evidence." So basically, we create our own reality within frames of social order (law, education, health, the state, consumerism, racism, sexism, religion, homophobia etc.) that we've agreed upon. people who are "mad," "off kilter," "crazy" yadda yadda, just happen to decide to break from all the acceptable frames of reference and make things up as they please or out of confused notions of the social frames because they are having a spiritual crisis.

given some of the irrational things we've all agreed to believe in i.e. consumerism, religion, war it's a wonder people aren't experiencing spiritual crisis all the time, but then again terrorism is on the rise, school shootings and work shootings, and well let's just say shootings in general are up, and the youth and young adults are the only ones whose suicide rates are up globally so maybe these frames we've agreed upon are starting to wear thin?

Kirby says that when you reach to the top of your belief system pyramid during advanced Buddhist meditation (is there a class for that or do you need a good therapi$t to have to figure this bit out?), anyways when you get to the top of the pyramid or mountain you will see your almighty highest god and then see that this too is false, recognize that you don't have to be right all the time and start to learn some compassion for others. (sounds like Philip K. Dick to me) can I get a guitar to accompany that Kirby while he sings that tune of compassion? i wonder if i think enough about being a great guitar player it will just happen? that's how Julian Cope did it. he also thought himself into "madness". it's easy if you try.

When people jump through time
They give themselves up to rhyme
And reasons of the heavens
They recognise in themselves
Reconciling their thoughts to those of dutiful people
They're unashamed

Won't somebody sign my release?
 
Last edited:
I really believe that understanding who we are and how we interact with the universe is probably an avenue well worth going down in the study of the paranormal.
absolutely. it leads back to consciousness studies and understanding what is reality. perhaps if we wait long enough for the longest thread in history to finish its computing it will come up with the answer to life, the universe and everything. it might take 42 separate thread chapters the Consciousness and Paranormal thread (thanks to @Constance @Soupie @Pharoah et. al. especially Steven) to get there but i bet it will have a great idea of what to do about all of this strange reality stuff. tell the grandkids to look out for it.

But it's beginning to reveal a much more heartless and tragic truth - and I expect it will always be difficult for humanity to come to terms with - despite how religious or not you are - we all witness death.
given time, you get used to it on some levels. given time we will learn to better appreciate the amount of time we are allowed and create for ourselves and others. in the future death will be different, not as brutal as it can be sometimes.
 
consciousness studies and understanding what is reality. perhaps if we wait long enough for the longest thread in history to finish its computing it will come up with the answer to life, the universe and everything. it might take 42 separate thread chapters the Consciousness and Paranormal thread
---------------------
Am coming at this from a slightly different angle - the first problem, is consciousness - i dont really understand what this means - and is a arcane coded word from a religious perspective to pull rank on the rest of animals in society. Atheism does little better to put a more anthropocentric spin on the meaning of this word.
If darwinism is understood in its completion, we are exactly composed of the same bulding blocks and chemical components, strands of DNA and Adenine, Cytosine, Guanine and Thymine as every other living creature on the planet. How can 1 recipe be unique and so special - i have big problems with this word consciousness and the rest of cultural distinction of our own ego, in essence i struggle to verify if humanity has this special character in body form, let alone in a supposed spirit form.
 
You can dissapear down a rabbit hole with these concepts, as if there isn't a cogent thinking rational being able to form and lead its own destiny, then how can it be reflective in the world it manipulates to change its surroundings - my angle is far more bitter, and disconcerting - humanity matters not one jot, in the universe. 'In the beginning, there was god, the end.'
Its chilling isn't it?
 
given time, you get used to it [death] on some levels. given time we will learn to better appreciate the amount of time we are allowed and create for ourselves and others. in the future death will be different, not as brutal as it can be sometimes.

Especially when more people and more researchers realize that the death of the body is not the end of consciousness.
 
Am coming at this from a slightly different angle - the first problem, is consciousness - i dont really understand what this means - and is a arcane coded word from a religious perspective to pull rank on the rest of animals in society.

You might like the discussions pursued in the last year of the C&P thread where we follow Jaak Panksepp and other biologists and neuroscientists who recognize that consciousness and mind evolve from early days in evolution. There are degrees of consciousness and developments of mind in the evolution of species, and our species is still in the process of understanding itself and the natural grounding of its ability to comprehend the subjective/objective poles of what we call 'reality' and their confluence/compresence in all experience of being.
 
and our species is still in the process of understanding itself and the natural grounding of its ability to comprehend the subjective/objective poles of what we call 'reality' and their confluence/compresence in all experience of being.

Which species isn't? - i am cautious with the sentiments of human scientists such as biologists/neuroscientists - they lie on the edge of science, and are prone to incorporate some of the vagaries and irrationalities of other social sciences.
 
consciousness studies and understanding what is reality. perhaps if we wait long enough for the longest thread in history to finish its computing it will come up with the answer to life, the universe and everything. it might take 42 separate thread chapters the Consciousness and Paranormal thread
---------------------
Am coming at this from a slightly different angle - the first problem, is consciousness - i dont really understand what this means - and is a arcane coded word from a religious perspective to pull rank on the rest of animals in society. Atheism does little better to put a more anthropocentric spin on the meaning of this word.
If darwinism is understood in its completion, we are exactly composed of the same bulding blocks and chemical components, strands of DNA and Adenine, Cytosine, Guanine and Thymine as every other living creature on the planet. How can 1 recipe be unique and so special - i have big problems with this word consciousness and the rest of cultural distinction of our own ego, in essence i struggle to verify if humanity has this special character in body form, let alone in a supposed spirit form.
If we can extend ideas of consciousness to everything: rocks trees buildings plastics animals etc. then we can understand how most animals, except the domesticated crew who have their own grave sites and diamond studded collars, must live in absolute terror of us.

I don't think consciousness is human privilege but just another word for the self awareness of a body moving through time and space. Some humans think they are special but that's their thing.

But the study of how this self awareness mechanism works, how we interpret information and react to the data around us includes those mental frames of reference that we have invented to agree upon to lay claims to reality such as religion, atheism and darwinism.
 
I'm not sure what to think about this episode and Dr. Surprise (if that is his real name anyway). So many seeming contradictions. Either he is the smartest man in the universe and has figured it all out, or he's a little bit insane. :) I'm always a bit skeptical when someone is so steadfast in their beliefs as he presented on the show. He clearly worships at the alter of science ("there is no paranormal, only normal"). Sounds like he and Michael Shermer would get along great. I got the impression that he believes everything can be explained by science (maybe he's right?), but then the discussion on tulpas really through me off. Creating auras and energy fields? Sounds very new age, but again, he has a steadfast scientific explanation. Does anyone know if he has any published, peer-reviewed research that can back up some of his hypotheses? For someone so clearly in the science camp, I would think he would have something like that. He did refer to himself as a "neuroscientist".

So, in the end, I think it's some interesting fodder, but it just reminds me of too many today that want to put all their "faith" in science. Although, I did like his idea that science doesn't have to be right, it just has to explain the situation with a model that works. That's pretty much been the scientific model throughout the ages and seems to work.

But, in a way, he sort of sucks all the fun out of the paranormal. A little bit of mystery, I think, is why some of us are interested in these subjects. He takes the "para" out of The Paracast.
 
After I heard remarks on the show that struck me also as "seeming contradictions" (@ Extra Postage Required) I started again from the beginning and I took two pages of notes while listening. Dr. Surprise is an engaging speaker, learned, and evidently has an actual day job of some importance. He made a number of remarks that I liked.

However . . .

In one place he dismissively remarked about people with "fixed delusional religious systems going," yet in another place he told us the secret of his work, that he'd "married Theosophy, Special and General Relativity, and M theory" to produce "a rational explanation." Ah. Hello? Theosophy can be turned into something rational?

As noted, Dr. Surprise seems to have incorporated the concept of the Ishta Deva into his work. From my meager knowledge, that idea originated in Hinduism and was inherited by Buddhism. I may have misunderstood, but Dr. Surprise seems to eliminate the potentially repulsive idea of visualizing a separate superior deity during meditation, but that part of the conversation did not come out very clear. Nor did his response to Gene's question as to whether or not he thought there might be a Supreme Deity.

Dr. Surprise did say that as an undergrad he'd already been practicing meditation and metaphysics "for many years." So, to me, this interview could lead one to suppose that young Kirby Surprise "became a scientist" to verify and confirm his already established beliefs. Maybe not.

In another place though, Dr. Surprise fesses up and says that his work to "marry Theosophy's planes of consciousness to physics is unprovable, and off the rails, but it works." Pray tell! "Works" as what? He evidently gave that answer in another place where he said that he wrote his book for people with a touch of psychosis, especially relating to being overwhelmed with synchronicities. So, could his therapy merely provide temporary relief without actually resolving underlying issues? That's the whole precarious issue, IMHO.

Genesis 24, especially verses 12 – 22 contains a potent example of a "requested synchronicity" that had virtually instant, life-changing importance for several people. So synchronicity has been noticed, and requested, for a long time (around 4,000 years on the prima facie view of that text). That particular synchronicity in Genesis was made highly specific in several particulars, and was requested from, and attributed to, the Supreme Being.

Could there actually be external agents that involve themselves with our mental processes during the outworking of synchronicities? Dr. Surprise says no. If there were no possible deleterious consequences I would not care what anyone asserts. But what if there are entities that can inject themselves into, or even interfere with our thought-perception processes? Plenty of people believe that ETs contact humans via telepathy, or even automatic writing. Is it possible that this telepathic phenomenon is related to synchronicity? Mike Clelland said that during his second three-owls-synchronicity he heard a voice screaming in his head, "UFOs," and this led to his mental deterioration for a time. So, to me, these murky subjects are dangerous and not to be treated lightly.

I also wondered if Dr. Surprise has heard of Ted Phillips. I suppose one could conjecture that the trace cases Phillips has accumulated do not eliminate their origin from the human observer, if you take it for granted that humans can actually cause such physically interactive visualizations. Personally, I don't think so.

Interesting show all-in-all . . .
 
But it keeps coming back to this word - consciousness - all creatures must have a degree of awareness of themselves. But that awareness is as much as part of the hardware as it is the software - its not some unique locale that controls our position - formative learnings have to be made first to understand the hardware - as a baby tries to learn to walk, or an amputee or a disability has to arrive at a new awareness of themselves constrained by the physical constraints. I think it is foolish, to think that consciousness can be segregated from the body as a whole and projected outward into some ethereal state - our physical body dictates who we are not the other way around. If consciousness did move away from the body it would have no sense of reference to it and hence it would be meaningless anyway? It would be reset as such - which is obviously the same as off and on. We had no consciousness when we were born so we will have no consciousness when we die. It's a zero sum game. Our body is the representation of that consciousness - my feelings of a man, my sentiments of the world around me, my physical abilities and interests, my bipedal structure and human senses - this is the hardware, the Intel processor, that makes my conscious software run.
 
Last edited:
As I drove up the New Jersey Turnpike in my blue Toyota Camry while listening to this episode, I couldn't help but drawl a funny line between the "meaningful coincidences" evidenced by the synchronicity theory and simple coincidence. I was waiting for Gene to say my real name, then I knew it would be time to pull over.

Great episode for shedding some additional light on a topic in which I'm a relative novice. Being somewhat religious, I'm confident the "piss you off" test would do just that, but I'm gonna try it anyway. I'm an advocate for intelligent design theory, so it's entirely possible my subconscious would conflict with the results of the test (if I let it).

As always, I'm looking forward to the next episode.
 
Especially when more people and more researchers realize that the death of the body is not the end of consciousness.
Constance, if it turns out to be true it will probably put at end to most of our differences of opinion on a number of topics and we can take some time to sip quantum tea and talk about Wallace Stevens.
 
After I heard remarks on the show that struck me also as "seeming contradictions" (@ Extra Postage Required) I started again from the beginning and I took two pages of notes while listening. Dr. Surprise is an engaging speaker, learned, and evidently has an actual day job of some importance. He made a number of remarks that I liked.

However . . .

In one place he dismissively remarked about people with "fixed delusional religious systems going," yet in another place he told us the secret of his work, that he'd "married Theosophy, Special and General Relativity, and M theory" to produce "a rational explanation." Ah. Hello? Theosophy can be turned into something rational?

As noted, Dr. Surprise seems to have incorporated the concept of the Ishta Deva into his work. From my meager knowledge, that idea originated in Hinduism and was inherited by Buddhism. I may have misunderstood, but Dr. Surprise seems to eliminate the potentially repulsive idea of visualizing a separate superior deity during meditation, but that part of the conversation did not come out very clear. Nor did his response to Gene's question as to whether or not he thought there might be a Supreme Deity.

Dr. Surprise did say that as an undergrad he'd already been practicing meditation and metaphysics "for many years." So, to me, this interview could lead one to suppose that young Kirby Surprise "became a scientist" to verify and confirm his already established beliefs. Maybe not.

In another place though, Dr. Surprise fesses up and says that his work to "marry Theosophy's planes of consciousness to physics is unprovable, and off the rails, but it works." Pray tell! "Works" as what? He evidently gave that answer in another place where he said that he wrote his book for people with a touch of psychosis, especially relating to being overwhelmed with synchronicities. So, could his therapy merely provide temporary relief without actually resolving underlying issues? That's the whole precarious issue, IMHO.

Genesis 24, especially verses 12 – 22 contains a potent example of a "requested synchronicity" that had virtually instant, life-changing importance for several people. So synchronicity has been noticed, and requested, for a long time (around 4,000 years on the prima facie view of that text). That particular synchronicity in Genesis was made highly specific in several particulars, and was requested from, and attributed to, the Supreme Being.

Could there actually be external agents that involve themselves with our mental processes during the outworking of synchronicities? Dr. Surprise says no. If there were no possible deleterious consequences I would not care what anyone asserts. But what if there are entities that can inject themselves into, or even interfere with our thought-perception processes? Plenty of people believe that ETs contact humans via telepathy, or even automatic writing. Is it possible that this telepathic phenomenon is related to synchronicity? Mike Clelland said that during his second three-owls-synchronicity he heard a voice screaming in his head, "UFOs," and this led to his mental deterioration for a time. So, to me, these murky subjects are dangerous and not to be treated lightly.

I also wondered if Dr. Surprise has heard of Ted Phillips. I suppose one could conjecture that the trace cases Phillips has accumulated do not eliminate their origin from the human observer, if you take it for granted that humans can actually cause such physically interactive visualizations. Personally, I don't think so.

Interesting show all-in-all . . .
 
Theosophy is just another word for: " I have the answer to it all." And Kirby Surprise delivered like a calm David Biedny who has something big to confidently explain from a know it all position. With similar cadence and self assuredness, but without the Biedny flippancy, Surprise pitched his model of "the answer" based on the experiences and clients he's studied. Given that he's been able to puzzle through quite a number of different people's altered realities and self-created delusions of confirmation bias I think he's onto something interesting with regards to defining a synchronicity.

After listening to the whole episode I was struck by how much of what he was talking about regarding synchronicities can also be found in the Buddhist concept of "projection" where our experience of the world is based entirely on our own thinking, attitudes and self-concept. The glass is either half full or half empty - depends on how you look at it. But as the Buddhists say, the World is Projection. In other words we create our own reality.
Projector.gif
If all reality ever is, is just us looking in a mirror - one constructed out of our social frames of references and other things we've been taught to believe, or that we've figured out ourselves based on our own memories, experiences and willingness to lay claim to our own personal truths; then, yes, that takes a lot of the 'para' out of paranormality. From a doubtful position one could argue that a great number of the misidentified objects that have been seen, along with centaurs, time slips, synchronicities, ghosts and Bigfoot are all about us seeing the things that we want to see, or that we believe in. I'm sure another great chunk of some of the most intense and enduring of our UFO narratives, especially those with humanoids, may have much to do with what's been rolling around in our head as far as our usual expectations of how reality should work, and that when something out of the ordinary happens, or in moments of trauma and tension, the delusion of crowds, or self-delusions may help to call up images from our memories so that we see the kinds of UFO's that we already know about.

This may not explain all cases, especially not the hardcore evidence with specific and directly connected physical evidence, or the other rare selection of multiple witness cases - though some of these may have been merely crowd delusions connected to misidentified external stimuli. But without question, the UFO has its own mythology and many cases are directly connected to the lore and shared narratives of our times about them. It's not a wonder that these events have profound effects on us because of the way that they occupy space in our minds. They are the seed memory that grows into belief.

Consequently two predictions: the OWL UFO meme will blow up and there will be a spiked increase in cases involving those; and we increasingly will be afraid and paranoid about a breakaway society that is not only severing itself from us but is also experimenting on us for their own nefarious purposes and using the alien abduction piece as a screen memory - see X-Files, Richard Dolan etc.

Here's an interesting article from Surprise on Ayahuasca - it demonstrates again where he is coming from on these positions.
The Ayahuasca Effect | Ayahuasca.com
 
Synchronicity has never been explained. All we have are theories. While the experience of unlikely synchronicities feels very meaningful, articulating that meaning is impossible.

No explanations can be proven. Most theories describe what the experiencer wants to believe it is.

Getting stuck on synchronicity is dangerous. Some people get so addicted to signs they get fixated, going round and round in one place, convinced they can break through to esoteric knowledge.

Addiction to signs also feeds egotism. If the universe speaks to you, you must be important. It's difficult to give up that ego trip and return to the mundane world. Any good spiritual guide will advise against getting stuck on any phenomena one meets on one's journey.

Dr. Surprise seems to strike a healthy balance between creative imagination and an ability to take his theories with a grain of salt until and unless they are provable.

Synchronicity remains a tantalizing glimpse of an order in the cosmos beyond anything our tiny minds can comprehend. But it's wonderful to keep on trying, so long as one avoids getting lost in a maze of signs.
 
Back
Top