A New Book by Gary E. Schwartz, Ph.D

January 2011

Welcome to the world of science and spirit...

Do spirits exist, and if so, can they play a useful if not essential role in our individual and collective lives? Are there sources of invisible information and guidance waiting to be tapped and harnessed if we are just willing to listen?
If we, in our essence, are spirits too, can we come to see this possibility when we look at ourselves in the mirror? And can we draw on this great inner potential and power with wisdom and love to change our ways accordingly, before it is too late for humankind?

I believe that science not only can address such questions, but in the process can potentially help increase our ability to receive spiritual information accurately, and we can then act upon it safely and wisely.

Praise for the work

"Gary Schwartz has been on a remarkable journey throughout his lifetime. His body of work is inspirational to me because his passion to bring science and spirit together is dominated by an empirical doctrine that is unimpeachable. His latest research as recounted in The SacredPromise is likely to impress even the most diehard skeptic. I am proud to recommend this book and to heap as much praise as possible upon my friend, Gary Schwartz.” —Kelsey Grammer

“Sacred Promise is elegant, rigorous, and groundbreaking—research science at its most innovative. Gary Schwartz’s exposition of ideas interfacing theory, paradigm, method, and anecdotes shows academia at its best.” —Dr. Lisa Miller, associate professor of psychology at Columbia University, editor of the Oxford University Press Handbook of Psychology and Spirituality, and cohost of the TV show Psychic Kids

“Gary Schwartz applies procedures of experimentation that no honest skeptic could argue with.” —Deepak Chopra, author of The Third Jesus and Life After Death

"Postmortem survival has long been a taboo topic in scientific circles. Gary Schwartz had ingenuity and a pioneering spirit to go deeply into this area and not be afraid of what he found. You’ll be fascinated by this book!” —Charles T. Tart, PhD, author of Altered States of Consciousness and The End of Materialism
“For more than two decades I have had the privilege of working with Gary Schwartz. He has amazed me not only with his insights and hard scientific approach, but also his willingness to explore and then share his findings on very controversial topics. Even if you do not believe in the premises of The Scared Promise, your intellect and heart will be teased enough so that you just might open your mind and start to believe that all this, and more, is possible.” --Jerry Cohen, CEO, Canyon Ranch

“This book is an absolute must-read for anyone who struggles with faith, love, death, and aspects of divinity.”—John Edward, author of Crossing Over and The Infinite Quest


The Sacred Promise: Science and the Role of Spirit in Healing with Gary Schwartz from Rhine Research Center on Vimeo.

Sally Rhine Feather to appear on "Twin Talk" on the World Talk Radio Network

Executive Director of the Rhine Research Center in Durham, North Carolina, Dr. Sally Rhine Feather, will guest on Twin Talk with Dr. Mercy on the World Talk Radio Variety channel at 8am PT on Friday, January 7, 2011.

Dr. Rhine Feather will discuss her life-long research into the paranormal and her involvement in the Rhine Center founded by her parents Joseph and Louisa Rhine in 1927 to pioneer the study of parapsychology. She co-authored The Gift: The Extraordinary Experiences of Ordinary People with Michael Schmicker in 2005 based upon research at the Rhine Center.

Joseph Rhine initially investigated the mind’s ability to gain psychic information by other than sensory means, known as extrasensory perception (ESP), and to perform psychokinesis (PK), the movement of objects by mental intention in cooperation with Duke University. The Journal of Parapsychology was founded in 1937 as an independent peer-reviewed professional journal to provide an outlet for reporting the findings from Duke and other laboratories at home and abroad. Now in the 21st century, the Rhine Center continues the mission and work of its founder J.B. Rhine with a broadened scope directed deeper into the Study of Consciousness.

Sally will discuss the history of the Rhine Center, research findings over 70 years, and the importance of twins in paranormal studies.

Twin Talk airs live on Fridays at 8 AM Pacific / 10 AM Central / 11 AM Eastern on the World Talk Radio Variety Channel. To access the show, log on at www.worldtalkradio.com. All shows will be available in Dr. Mercy's Content Library on the World Talk Radio Variety Channel for on-demand and podcast download.

Two Rhine Researchers Receive Bial Grants

By John G. Kruth

Dr. John Palmer and Dr. Christine Simmonds-Moore have received prestigious Bial grants for research projects in 2011. The Bial Foundation is an organization committed to discovering, developing, and providing therapeutic solutions within the area of health and is the world’s largest provider of grants for scientific research in Parapsychology.

Dr. Palmer is Director of Research at the RRC, Editor of the Journal of Parapsychology, has twice been the President of the Parapsychological Association, and has published over 100 research reports, literature reviews, and theoretical papers. He will be performing an experiment to evaluate the connection between the dissociative state and PSI. Psychological dissociation is a disruption of normal conscious awareness in an individual. Many people experience a mild form of dissociation while driving a car and listening to music, and musicians and artists have been known to purposely create a dissociative state in order to improve their creativity. Dr. Palmer presents a hypothesis that dissociative states can be exploited to enable better performance on PSI tasks. Through a motor automatism PSI task, exemplified by the automatic writing of the trance medium Leonore Piper as well as the modern Ouija board, Dr. Palmer will evoke a dissociative state and distract participants’ primary consciousness with a reading exercise while the dissociated consciousness performs the PSI task. The overall hypothesis to be tested in this study is that psychological dissociation improves PSI performance.

Dr. Simmonds-Moore is the Senior Research Fellow at the RRC and has been involved in research on paranormal experiences for over 10 years. She has taught courses in Parapsychology at Liverpool-Hope University and the RRC. She has numerous studies and research collaborations to her credit and has been performing research at the RRC since 2009. Her research project will examine the association between synesthesia and anomalous experiences that may include PSI. Synesthesia occurs when one sense involuntarily activates a different sensory experience. A person who experiences synesthesia may be able to see sounds, taste shapes, or hear colors. Dr. Simmonds-Moore’s study will attempt to identify individuals who experience synesthesia and explore how this relates to PSI and other experiences. Her research also examines the relationship between synesthesia, personality (a measure of positive schizotypy), and a range of anomalous and paranormal experiences. Her work will also develop a new scale to explore the incidence of synesthetic experiences in the general population.

Everyone at the RRC would like to congratulate Dr. Palmer and Dr. Simmonds-Moore on their grants and the opportunity to perform such important research under the Rhine umbrella.