Category: Michael Grosso

Gross, Michael – PhD

Michael Grosso is a teacher, author, and painter, whose interests span psychical research, metaphysical art, the parapsychology of religion, and, primarily, philosophy. He received his PhD in philosophy, and studied classical Greek, at Columbia University, and has taught at City University of New York, Marymount Manhattan College, and City University of New Jersey. He has published books on topics ranging from life after death to the mythologies of endtime.

He presently lives in Charlottesville, Virginia, where he is affiliated with the Division of Personality Studies of UVA. On the Board of Directors of the American Philosophical Practitioner’s Association and reviews editor of its Journal, Michael conducts Wisdom Seminars, discussion groups that apply philosophy to problems of everyday life.

The Man Who Could Fly

the man who could flyBuy The Man Who Could Fly here.

St. Joseph of Copertino and the Mystery of Levitation

Nicholas Colloff

THE MAN WHO COULD FLY
Michael Grosso
Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, 2015, 264 pp.
ISBN: 978-1442256729

 

A miracle, to quote St. Augustine, “does not occur contrary to nature, but contrary to what we know of nature.” So what happens when a miracle occurs, repeatedly, what can it tell us about the nature of the nature we inhabit and, more importantly perhaps, about its meaning?

This is the subject of Michael Grosso’s searching, beautifully written and challenging book. The repeated miracle in question is a seventeenth century Franciscan priest’s ability to levitate, not once or twice, but repeatedly over years, observed by hundreds of people, many of whom originally were sceptical. These repeat performances, accompanied by other manifestations of psychic skill, were an embarrassment to the Church not, interestingly, for their plausibility (after all St Joseph was not the first flying religious) but for the temptations of pride and self-advertisement in which Fr Joseph might become ensnared. For this reason, he was investigated more than once by the Inquisition, always being exonerated but always presenting a difficulty to the Church hierarchy who forced him into ever more remote priories until he spent the last period of his life virtually a prisoner in a single room. It is ironic or perhaps emblematic that establishments of all kinds find anomalous experience difficult (though for different reasons). This inquisitorial interest, however, is a boon to subsequent researchers given their scrupulous bureaucratic attention to detail.

Needless to say our still established scientific materialism too finds St Joseph’s experience confounding so it must be a consequence of a known mechanism – mass hysteria or conscious fraud, say. Grosso patiently sifts the evidence, weighing it carefully in the balance, and leaves you with no other truly reasonable conclusion than that St Joseph could indeed, under particular and described circumstances, levitate. It would be erroneous to think of this as ‘defying gravity’ as Grosso argues as if the ‘the laws of physics’ were legislative rather than the best possible available descriptions of what can be taken to be the case. If Joseph can fly, the question now is how – what force or dynamic can act in certain contexts such that the ‘normal’ rules of gravity are transformed? What might that look like and how does it effect how we think about the nature we inhabit?

The first thing it asks us is to revisit is the relationship between mind and matter (and indeed whether those neatly divided categories are not grossly misleading). For Joseph’s ability to levitate was connected with the achievement of certain, circumscribed patterns of ecstasy when, forgetting himself, all his concentration was on the religious trigger of his intense devotion. Our minds appear not simply to be contained epiphenomena of our material brains but causally effective. Grosso takes us through a graded ascent of those abilities – from everyday intentionality through to levitation – in order to make the case for their plausibility – differences in degree and commonality but not of kind.

If this be so, where might we go to discover what the eminent physicist and early explorer of the ‘paranormal’, Sir William Crookes, called, ‘a psychic force’ by which under certain conditions and, within as yet unknown boundaries, a person with ‘a special nerve organisation’ can enable action at a distance, without muscular effort shift objects or, in the case of St Joseph, levitate? Has our understanding of consciousness and matter advanced since Crookes’ nineteenth century speculation grounded in observed phenomena? Yes, argues Grosso, if slowly, because with the development of quantum mechanics, consciousness has undertaken ‘a return of the repressed’ rather than being seen as a quirky (and limited) epiphenomena, it is becoming potentially a constitutive, structuring reality that permeates everywhere. In his penultimate chapter, Grosso explores a number of approaches to mind in quantum mechanics that are a suggestive basis for a renewed interest in consciousness as a non-local, unifying reality that transcends and configures ‘matter’. We are reminded that if the world is seriously strange at the quantum level, why stop there?

If this is so, what might it mean? The final section of the book turns to what Grosso describes as a parapsychology of religion. I recall attending a science and religion conference many years ago and being embarrassed to find myself the only empiricist there. All the conversation was on whether religion and science in their most abstracted forms were or were not compatible not on the ground where they might actually meet which, as Grosso articulates, is in the space of the ‘psychic’ where the study of the paranormal begins to extend and deepen our understanding of human possibility.

This parapsychology of religion will not simply confirm the ‘realities’ confessed to by any particular religion; indeed, they might be as challenging to them as they are to ‘mainstream’ science, but they offer a fruitful path through the thicket of incompatible claims to the normative. In a modest yet compelling way Grosso sketches how this might be so in reinforcing the belief in a spiritual world, a belief in the power of belief itself, in the power of prayer, in a life after death and in miracles. It advances William James’ request in his ‘Pluralistic Universe’ to put empiricism at the heart of religion once more such that, “a new era of religion as well as philosophy might begin,” one that experiments after the truth, modest, wondering, humble as befits the temperament of a saint who could fly yet placed all his emphasis on the devoted, experienced love that at its heart triggered it.
“The Man who could Fly” is not only an exemplary case study of a levitating saint but an agenda both for further research, search and reconfiguration of what it might mean to be human in a universe the knowledge of which remains enticingly and enjoyably uncertain, open and inviting.

Buy The Man Who Could Fly here.

The Final Choice

the final choiceBuy The Final Choice here.

Technocalypse and Transformation

David Lorimer

THE FINAL CHOICE
Michael Grosso
White Crow Books, 2017, 208 pp.
ISBN: 978-1-78677-029-5

 

I read the first edition of this provocative and erudite book in 1985, the year after I had met the author in New York on a tour to promote my first book Survival? Mike was then teaching philosophy at a local college, and I immediately found a kindred spirit in his broad outlook as reflected in this study. He coined the word ‘technocalypse’ in 1995 to describe the convergence of the apocalyptic imagination and modern technology with its terrifying imperative to continue upgrading nuclear weapons as each side appears to be falling behind, an insane spiral driven by the exigencies of realpolitik and perhaps signalling a terminal civilisation. The thesis of the book is the necessity of ‘a dramatic and broad-based transformation of consciousness to avert our calamitous future’ (p. 184) – a theme taken up in many books reviewed in these pages and reflected in the subtitle ‘death or transcendence?’. Accordingly, the book is set out in three parts: the crisis, potential to respond and the transformation.

Mike makes a strong case that parapsychology and transpersonal psychology could form the basis of a new fact-based mythology of transcendence and a transition into a larger frame of reference that would harness neglected human potentials. There is no doubt that things have accelerated and that we are nearer a crisis or turning point than when the book was first published. This larger frame of reference would represent ‘a creative synthesis of science and religion, art and technology, reason and intuition, personal and social, masculine and feminine’ (p. 9) – all corresponding to a deeper understanding of reality and therefore of human needs. Mike’s hope is that more of us can tune into Mind at Large of which we are all intrinsic expressions and act from this more universal outlook. However, as a society we are dominated by scientific materialism and consumerist growth, with a corresponding denial of death and the possibility of transcendence.

What Mike calls the craft of dying involves both living more consciously in harmony with the natural world and preparing to depart from it, including the body. In many traditions about death, Light plays a central transformative role, which also applies to the NDE. The spiritualisation of matter may even on occasion lead to mysterious incorruption of the physical body, as witnessed by a number of saints. The chapter on repressing immortality involves both hunger and resistance in the context of transcendence. It is here that the findings of parapsychology may help with its investigations of OBEs, NDEs, reincarnation memories and survival suggesting that the afterlife may be a permanent OBE, though Mike is also mindful of the artistic potential of ecstasy and imagination. Here he brings in Greek shamanism, phenomenology, Jung and witness consciousness attesting to the reality of Mind at Large. This leads him into an analysis of near death epiphanies, which he regards as a metaphysical paradigm-buster, giving examples of veridical OB perceptions: ‘the NDE is to psychology what quantum mechanics is to physics’ (p. 95). Mike places this within the larger history of psychical research which has elicited huge resistance in materialistic circles. He observes that the main obstacle to belief in life after death is not lack of evidence, but rather the mindset of the investigator and the difficulty of deciding between survival and super ESP in specific cases. However, he is surely correct in noting that the pervasive dogma of materialism constrains our perception of the possible.

He then articulates a very useful concept in the archetype of death and enlightenment (ADE) which he thinks shows up in psychedelic experiences, UFO revelations, ancient mystery rituals, dreams and hallucinations. Here the pattern is one from enclosure to disclosure, from darkness to light, ‘an expansion of conscious capacity’. Perhaps this archetype is now emerging on a global scale, and Mike speculates about the imminent possibility of a global NDE, either in nuclear or ecological terms. The uncomfortable truth is that business as usual maximises the chances of disaster, yet there is huge individual, social and economic resistance to undertaking the necessary systemic transformation, especially ‘without a felt sense of human solidarity in a critical mass of humanity to launch the change’ (p. 132). Existentially, he sees death as annihilation as the mirror of a conception of life as devoid of meaning, which itself is an outcome of materialism and nihilism. In common with Ervin Laszlo, Mike doubts if breakthrough is possible without breakdown.

However, he shows that we are not alone – there is a rich history of helping apparitions, including the Virgin Mary and angels as detailed in the three books by the Dutch physician Hans Moolenburg; then there are miraculous interventions by the likes of St Padre Pio, Daskalos and Peter Deunov, especially to help those close to them. Sometimes these interventions even save lives. A number of prophecies seem to line up with apocalyptic scenarios, archetypally involving death and rebirth and that may be attributed to the activity of Mind at Large. Mike speculates that with our prevailing masculine will to power, capitalism, consumerism and militarism wreaking havoc, we perhaps need a goddess to bring man into psychosexual bliss, or at any rate to a deeper experience of love. He remarks that the cult of the virgin might be seen as a type of Tantric yoga, but I myself would align more with the energy of Mary Magdalene, so powerful where I live and forming part of the political basis of the community at Tamera in Portugal.

The last chapter discusses truth in transformation and imagination rather than conformity. Our enlarged human potential has already been amply illustrated in previous chapters in a variety of contexts – here we need to move beyond fear and paranoia to transformation and metanoia. It is the poetic imagination, as argued by Vico in the early 18th century, that leads to the renewal of society, as much in his day as ours. Parapsychology suggests that belief in a positive outcome is pivotal (sheep and goats) and that we must choose to believe in a vision of renovation in order to hasten its coming (p. 197). However, this will necessitate grassroots movements such as Thrive, whose film has now been seen by 81 million people in 27 languages (www.thrivemovement.com) – the bottom line is that real transformation can only come from within, as Jung also realised in his essay on the undiscovered self. As with David Ray Griffin’s book reviewed below, we need to be fully aware of hidden agendas while directing our energy towards sowing seeds of the new. This book provides readers with a rich and highly informative resource in this respect.

Buy The Final Choice here.

Members and Advisers

Galileo Commission Co-ordinators

  • Prof Dr Harald Walach (Germany and Poland), Professor, Medical University Poznan, Lecturer and Visiting Professor, Department of Psychology, University Witten-Herdecke
  • David Lorimer (France), Programme Director SMN
  • Richard Irwin (UK), Director SMN

Advisers

Dr Eben Alexander III (US), neurosurgeon and author

Prof Chris Bache (US), philosopher, Youngstown State University

Anne Baring (UK), Jungian analyst and author

Prof Imants Baruss (Canada), psychologist, King’s University College

Dr Vasileios Basios (Belgium), physicist, Free University of Brussels

Dr Mario Beauregard, (US), neuroscientist, University of Arizona

Prof Carl Becker (Japan), social scientist, Kyoto University

M.D. Laurin Bellg (US), ICU physician

Dr Daniel Benor (US), physician, doctor-healer network

Dr Edi Bilimoria (UK), consultant engineer and author

Dr Arie Bos (Netherlands), physician and philosopher of science, University of Utrecht

Emilios Bouratinos (Greece), philosopher, author of “Science, Objectivity and Consciousness”

Prof Stephen Braude (US), philosopher, University of Maryland

Prof Etzel Cardeña (Sweden), psychologist, University of Lund

Prof Bernard Carr (UK), physicist and cosmologist, Queen Mary College, University of London

Dr Deepak Chopra (US), physician, author

Prof. John Clarke (UK), historian of ideas, Kingston University

Dr Apela Colorado (Canada), systems and indigenous scientist

Dr Jude Currivan (UK), cosmologist, healer and author

Prof Christian de Quincey (US), philosopher, The Wisdom Academy, formerly JFK University

Dr Larry Dossey (US), physician, Executive Editor:  Explore:  The Journal of  Science and Healing

Brenda Dunne (US), PEAR Lab, Princeton

Duane Elgin (US), writer and futurist

Dr Peter Fenwick (UK), neuropsychiatrist, University of London

Prof Jorge Ferrer (US), psychologist, California Institute for Integral Studies

Dr Paul Filmore (UK), physicist, University of Plymouth

Dr David Greenwood (UK), engineer, Alister Hardy Trust

M.D. Bruce Greyson (US), neuropsychiatrist, University of Virginia

M.D. Stan Grof (US), psychiatrist, California Institute for Integral Studies

Dr Neal Grossman (US), philosopher, University of Illinois

Dr Michael Grosso (US), philosopher, Jersey College, New York

Nicholas Hagger (UK), philosopher, mystic and cultural historian

Paul Hague (Sweden), systems architect and author

Prof Stuart Hameroff (US), neuroscientist, University of Arizona

John Hands (UK), philosopher of science and author of Cosmo Sapiens

Dr Stephan Harding (UK) biologist, Schumacher College

Prof Janice Holden (US), psychologist, University of North Texas

Prof Ed Kelly (US), cognitive neuroscientist, University of Virginia

Dr Emily Williams Kelly (US), cognitive neuroscientist, University of Virginia

Paul Kieniewicz (Poland), physicist and geologist

Prof Stanley Krippner (US), psychologist, Saybrook Institute

Dr Les Lancaster (UK), Liverpool John Moores University

Dr Ervin Laszlo (Italy), systems theorist and President of the Club of Budapest

Prof Martin Lockley (US), palaeontologist, University of Denver

Dr Andrew Lohrey (Australia), philosopher and author

Dr Pim van Lommel (Netherlands), cardiologist

Dr Paul Marshall (UK), philosopher, co-editor of ‘Beyond Physicalism’

Nicholas Maxwell (UK), philosopher of science, University College London

Dr Iain McGilchrist (UK), neuropsychiatrist and philosopher

Dr Lisa Miller (US), psychologist, University of Columbia

Dr Julia Mossbridge (US), cognitive neuroscientist and futurist, Fellow, Institute of Noetic Sciences

Prof AK Mukhopadhyay (India), physician and consciousness researcher, All India Institute of Medical Sciences

Dr Jeremy Naydler (UK), philosopher and historian of ideas

Dr Roger Nelson (US), psychologist, Global Consciousness Project

Prof Kim Penberthy (US), cognitive neuroscientist, University of Virginia

Dr Andrew Powell (UK), psychiatrist, Founding Chair of Royal College of Psychiatrists Special Interest Group

Prof John Poynton (South Africa), zoologist, University of Natal

Prof Dean Radin, (US), parapsychologist, Institute of Noetic Sciences

Prof K. Ramakrishna Rao (India), psychologist, philosopher and parapsychologist Chair, Indian Council for Philosophical Research and former Vice-Chancellor of Andhra University

Prof Ravi Ravindra (Canada), physicist, University of Halifax

Dr Alan Rayner (UK), biologist, University of Bath

Prof Peter Reason (UK), social scientist, University of Bath

Dr John Reed (US), physician, editor, World Institute of Scientific Exploration Journal

Prof Kenneth Ring (US), psychologist, University of Connecticut

Dr Oliver Robinson, (UK), psychologist, University of Greenwich

Prof Chris Roe (UK), psychologist, University of Northampton

Peter Russell (US), physicist, author

Dr Shantena Sabbadini (Spain), physicist, Pari Center and Schumacher College

Dr Marilyn Schlitz (US), anthropologist, parapsychologist, Institute of Noetic Sciences

Dr Gary Schwartz (US), neuropsychiatrist, University of Arizona

Stephan Schwartz (US), scientist, futurist, historian

Julie Soskin (UK) M. Phil. Author, Intuitive and Psycho-Spiritual Facilitator

Prof Richard Tarnas (US), philosopher, California Institute for Integral Studies

Prof Charles Tart (US), psychologist, parapsychologist, UC Davis

Dr Steve Taylor (UK), psychologist, Leeds Beckett University, author

Hardin Tibbs (UK), futurist

Dr Natalie Tobert (UK), medical anthropologist

Prof Max Velmans (UK), psychologist, Goldsmiths, University of London

Dr Cassandra Vieten (US), psychologist, Institute of Noetic Sciences

Dr Alan Wallace (US), physicist and Tibetan monk, Santa Barbara Institute

Dr Joan Walton (UK), consciousness researcher, York St John University

Prof Marjory Hines Woollacott, (US), neuroscientist, University of Oregon

Dr Michael Wride (Ireland), biologist, Trinity College, Dublin

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