Does meditation increase openness to, and experiences of, the paranormal? A new study investigates
Can opening the “third eye” through meditation thin the veil between the known and the unknown? Researchers at PsychTests examined the paranormal beliefs - and experiences - of active meditators.
Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s fictional detective, Sherlock Holmes, would never have entertained the idea of the supernatural, but his creator was quite the opposite. Doyle became obsessed with understanding the paranormal after his son passed away. Aside from attending seances, he also claimed to have encountered a spirit late one night who proceeded to apologize to the author for not listening to his guidance while alive. Although seances may be an interesting albeit dubious way to encounter spirits, research from PsychTests.com indicates that meditation might open a window to the paranormal. A study they conducted indicates that people who meditate are not only more open to the possibility of the unknown and the unseen, they are also more likely to have experienced paranormal activity.
Assessing 3,684 people who took the Paranormal Beliefs Test, PsychTests’ researchers compared the paranormal beliefs of avid meditators and non-meditators. Here’s what their analysis revealed:
PARANORMAL AND RELIGIOUS OR SPIRITUAL BELIEFS OF MEDITATORS
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God or other divine being - 81% of meditators vs. 57% of non-meditators
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Angels - 67% vs. 54%
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Life after death - 71% vs. 58%
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Reincarnation - 57% vs. 32%
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Past lives - 57% vs. 39%
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Ghosts - 76% vs. 64%
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The ability to communicate with the dead via a medium/psychic or in dreams - 64% vs. 46%
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Aliens, life on other planets - 76% vs. 68%
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Miracles - 69% vs. 55%
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Faith healing - 57% vs. 30%
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Karma - 70% vs. 53%
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Soulmates - 61% vs. 48%
PARANORMAL EXPERIENCES OF MEDITATORS
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Saw a ghost - 45% of meditators vs. 32% of non-meditators
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Experienced poltergeist activity - 26% vs. 19%
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Saw or spoke to an angel/spirit guide - 34% vs. 10%
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Had a premonition that actually happened - 44% vs. 20%
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Successfully used a Ouija board - 14% vs. 7%
OTHER CHARACTERISTICS OF THE MEDITATOR GROUP
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32% are Christian and 29% are Spiritual but not religious (vs. 37% and 11% of non-meditators, respectively)
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68% of meditators experience lucid dreams, compared to 44% of non-meditators
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54% of meditators classify themselves as optimists, 7% are pessimists, and 39% as realists (vs. 37%, 18%, and 45% of non-meditators, respectively)
“Researchers have long touted the benefits of meditation. Meditation declutters the mind. Among other things, it can help reduce stress, anxiety, and rumination, improve sleep and creativity, decrease blood pressure, and improve focus and memory. The brain activity actually physically changes when a person meditates,” explains Dr. Ilona Jerabek, president of PsychTests. “Meditation also has the potential to increase our self-awareness and help us connect with our sense of oneness with consciousness, the universe, God, or whatever your beliefs might be. And it’s through this connection with a calmer and quieter part of ourselves that we can get messages from our gut instinct, intuition, or hunches. When we are in a meditative state our consciousness is free to expand and explore; many people are said to have out-of-body experiences or to astral project. Perhaps in order to discover the secrets of the universe, we need only look within. So, it’s not surprising to see that people who meditate regularly have a stronger connection and perhaps an even better understanding of the paranormal and the unknown.”
What do you believe? Find out with the Paranormal Beliefs Test at: https://testyourself.psychtests.com/testid/2115
Professional users, such as HR managers, coaches, and therapists, can request a free demo for this or other assessments from ARCH Profile’s extensive battery: http://hrtests.archprofile.com/testdrive_gen_1
To learn more about psychological testing, download this free eBook: http://hrtests.archprofile.com/personality-tests-in-hr
