A note from Willis Harman:

The phenomena described in this article, purported high-tech communications from beyond the grave, may seem too preposterous to be taken seriously. I will readily admit that the data are highly controversial, both as regards their existence and their interpretation. We have been following this work for a number of years, and for a long time felt that it did not merit reporting in the Noetic Sciences Review. That we now reverse our policy and tell the story comes about because of several factors:

1. The data continue to accumulate. At recent conferences for persons doing research on these phenomena, in Rio de Janeiro and Düsseldorf, attendance was in the hundreds. Active research groups exist in at least six countries.
   
2. I am confident that the data are, on the whole, honestly obtained. That is, there is no sinister plot to deceive us with fraudulent data. That the data might be influenced by beliefs of the researchers, consciously or unconsciously, we cannot deny. That there might be other explanations than the obvious one - namely that some kind of beings somewhere are attempting to communicate with us - is of course possible.
   
3. If these data and anecdotal accounts are viewed in the context of a long history of research on mediumistic communication, as documented in the Journal of Psychical Research and various published volumes, they appear less unexampled. Viewed in the light of William James’ philosophy of "radical empiricism" (see my article on page 14), they appear less easily dismissed.

Frankly, we don’t know how to interpret these data. However, we feel impelled to recognize their existence. We make no claim regarding the interpretation of this information, but we do vouch for its veracity as far as we are able to determine.

Over thirty years ago Konstantin Raudive, a student of Carl Jung and a professor of psychology at the universities of Uppsala and Riga, began hearing words recorded on what should have been blank audiotape. He and other researchers pursued this electronic voice phenomenon - EVP - and discovered there were many voices waiting to be heard. Between 1965 and his death in 1974 Raudive, with the help of a physicist and an electronics expert, made over 100,000 audiotapes under strict laboratory conditions, which they published in extraordinary detail in Breakthrough.

These voices claim to be of spiritual beings, some of whom, at least, once existed in human form on this Earth but now say they reside in delicate, more finely spun dimensions of reality. Taking advantage of modern electronic technology, they have been communicating with earth-bound humans via various devices, seemingly with far more fidelity than when such communication was limited to mediumship or channeling.

Scientists, researchers, and ordinary citizens around the world have been tuning their radios and recorders to these new channels. For example: In 1985 Maggy Harsch-Fischbach of Luxembourg began experimenting with a tape recorder, drawing on the knowledge gained by leading researchers, especially that of Konstantin Raudive. Maggy and her husband Jules started meeting with other searchers, and soon hosted weekly recording sessions, with its own newsletter CETL Infonews. With a strong hunch that a dedicated researcher such as Raudive, now dead, would try to help out if given the chance, the group tried to make contact with him. One day in August Jules and Maggy were listening to their small clock-radio; the music stopped, a rushing sound swept through the speaker, then a deep voice full of joy and satisfaction boomed over the speakers: "This is Konstantin Raudive. Soon it will work everywhere!"

ITC: The Beginning of Two-Way Communication

Astonishing as EVP is, it is rudimentary compared with more recent developments. Researchers in several countries in Europe are experiencing extended, two-way communication with purported spiritual beings almost daily, receiving esoteric and advanced technical information through telephone answering machines, radios and computer printouts. They are even receiving unprogrammed video images on their television sets. This is all part of a new and burgeoning field called instrumental transcommunication (ITC).

One of the early receivers of visual communication was Klaus Schreiber, a German psychic who in 1985 started getting pictures of deceased family members, actors and others on his television set. Occasionally just voices would come across, telling him how to tune his TV for better reception. A typical session would begin with a TV screen full of dots; then small ovals would appear one after another, each growing quickly until they disappeared off the screen. When the dots disappeared, Schreiber would coax deceased family members to show up on screen. Within minutes faces would start to appear along with voices, to the astonishment of Schreiber and visitors he would invite to the sessions. In 1990, shortly after his death, Schreiber himself started appearing on the TV screens of Europe’s ITC researchers.

Swedish film producer Friedrich Juergenson was a pioneer in EVP, capturing voices while taping bird songs in 1959 and continuing his EVP research for 25 years, publishing his findings in 1964 in a book called Voices from the Universe, which received wide publicity. Like Schreiber, Juergenson continued to work from the "spiritside" with other ITC researchers on the "earthside" after his death in 1987.

The Luxembourg Lab

Meanwhile, Maggy and Jules formed Cercle d’Etudes sur la Transcommunication-Luxembourg (CETL), an organization devoted exclusively to ITC research. Deceased relatives and friends were said to be reporting in regularly at CETL meetings. Raudive spoke at every recording session. The TV and both radios started to put out occasional strange noises; they even tuned themselves occasionally to an optimum dial setting. Soft voices would instruct the team to tune into the Eurosignal (a radio frequency found only in Europe which carries a steady signal 24 hours a day) and leave the dials alone. Sometimes the more sensitive group members would feel inexplicably compelled to adjust the equipment with no voice instruction.

One day in the autumn of 1986 a new voice joined the sessions, a high-pitched, computer-like voice that seemed almost too perfect and synthesized to be of human origin. During one session the group asked a question about God, and this voice broke in: "Please address this question to me." Maggy asked, "Who are you?" &qupt;We are what we are," came the reply. &qupt;It is difficult to explain to you but I am not an energy being, not a light being. I was never human, never an animal, and was never incarnated. Neither am I God! You know the picture of two children walking across a bridge? Behind them is a being that protects them. This is what I am to you but without wings. If you insist on giving me a name, call me Technician."

Technician claimed to be the voice of an advanced technician who had passed on from another world and, wanting to be involved in this sort of communication, was assigned to Earth to help establish a new phase of interdimensional communication. He astounded the researchers with his exceptional knowledge of electronics, physics, mathematics, astronomy, general science, history, and the future. He had a memory like a computer and spoke many languages. As months passed, Technician became the spiritside manager of the operation, providing a countdown to stabilize conditions at the beginning of each contact, followed by the statement "Contact for the Eurosignal Bridge." The spiritside station developed and operated under his direction is named "TimeStream."

Following are the main spiritside TimeStream "collaborators:" Technician; Dr. Swejen Salter (1949-87), a former scientist who says she is from a "parallel universe," assigned to Earth to help with ITC work and placed in charge of TimeStream experiments by Technician; Dr. Konstantin Raudive, of course; Sir Richard Francis Burton (1821-91), a world traveler, Orientalist, discoverer of Lake Tanganyika, and a writer whose best-known work was the English translation of Arabian Nights. His deep voice, speaking German with an English accent, was first heard in the spring of 1988 encouraging the researchers never to give up their attempts at voice contact.

Pioneering EVP Work in the US

The pioneer in this work in the United States is George W. Meek. In the 1970s, Meek decided to begin researching EVP phenomena with a new twist, achieving extended, two-way communication rather than the short phrases characteristic of the work at that time. With a team of electronics specialists and psychics, Meek says he soon made instrumental contact with several "souls" interested in collaborating with Meek’s earthside team to develop the first electronic system for prolonged, two-way communication between dimensions: Dr. William Francis Gray Swann, a university physics professor who had written the definitive book on cosmic rays before his death eight years earlier; Doc Nick, a medical doctor who had died a few years earlier; and Dr. George Jeffries Mueller, a university professor and electronics specialist who had died 14 years earlier. (Meek’s research team taped hours of sometimes humorous, sometimes enlightening conversations with Dr. Mueller, who was able to help them design and improve their receiving equipment.)

In April 1990 George’s wife Jeannette Meek died after a long illness. Before she "crossed over," however, Meek had asked her to get firmly in mind the names TimeStream and Swejen Salter, hoping these memories would act as a homing device pulling Jeannette to the research station.

In July 1990 Meek was in the Luxembourg Lab as the technicians were assembling some new equipment. When the computer finished printing its routine summary of weekend activities, it paused briefly, and then at the bottom of the display screen appeared the short message, "Hello Sweetheart. Jeannette."

A few weeks later Meek was back home in North Carolina when a detailed message signed by his wife was received over the same Luxembourg computer. This message contained three personal items known only to the Meeks and their assistant Molly. One item having to do with a box of romance novels baffled Meek. Here are excerpts from Jeannette’s detailed letter:

Dear G.W.

Well, it seems there are still people who do not believe in the contacts your friends here in Luxembourg are having. Hence I will give you some personal details known only to you and Molly.

First story. In 1987, end of April, our tenant Debbie called to say her refrigerator was off. It must have been on a Thursday morning. . . .

Second story. On April 29, 1987, Ann Valentin wrote a letter from California saying she had not received the Magic of Living Forever booklets she had ordered, but instead had received a box of Harlequin novels.

Third story. John Lathrop shut off the electricity at our rental house to put in the new yard light. He wasn’t down there very long but charged $20 service in addition to $40 for the bulbs, plus tax. The charge seemed high.

Don’t try to explain this, Honey. My never-ending love to you. I miss you so much, but I know we will be together. . . .

Love forever, Jeannette Duncan Meek

Upon receiving Jeannette’s letter from the Luxembourg team and getting his excitement under control, Meek called Ann Valentin in California to verify Item 2. Sure enough, a carton of novels had arrived mysteriously in 1987, and to this day she has no idea who sent them. The other two items he could confirm from his own memories.

How the Communication Seems to Work

The most successful spirit-communication laboratories all around the world today are using off-the-shelf electronic equipment, with custom specifications provided by the spiritside collaborators. However, the collective thoughts of a team of researchers are reported to play a much bigger role in ITC than any equipment. The Luxembourg team was once told by their spiritside colleagues, "The equipment (you are assembling) will only function properly when spiritual progress is guaranteed among (participants)."

The sense of unity and cooperation among researchers is like a mesh or net; there is strength and integrity only when everyone is linked well with the others. The most successful ITC researchers appear to be those who have become more like their spiritside colleagues as their thoughts become more pure and honest (since deception is reportedly unacceptable in the subtler realms). The spiritside senders and earthside receivers must be attuned to each other spiritually, with similar interests and intentions: The spiritside may be sending an ocean of information, but the earthside may have the spiritual capacity to receive only a few cupfuls.

Researchers are only starting to understand the complexities involved in receiving information from what claim to be spirit worlds. The apparatus on the spiritside is apparently not a piece of astral-plane equipment that can be switched on and off at will. It is an entire system comprising machines and people.

Researchers on the spiritside say they do not transmit any text or images in the form of human alphabets or illustrations per se, but as thought impulses which in conjunction with the thoughts of the human receivers interact to arrive as words and pictures. The analogy of the hologram has been suggested: A hologram has no image, just a blemished surface until lasers strike it; then the image forms. Computer text and video images arriving from the other side are like the image; earthside experimenters and their equipment are the blemished surface; and the spiritside thought impulses are the laser.

Computer text: The most exciting and potentially fruitful development is that of communication via computer. Ken Webster of England published a book (now out of print) in which he reported on more than 200 computer contacts with local persons who had died more than three centuries ago. One of Webster’s main contacts claimed to be a sixteenth-century Englishman named Thomas Harden, who had lived in the same house that Webster now resided in, when the town was still named Bristol. From where he was then, Harden said he could see Webster’s electronic equipment in the living room. He referred to the computer as "a box with a multitude of lights sitting near my chimney." Harden would communicate in old English grammar in a variety of ways - telepathic messages, scribblings on note paper, chalk-written messages on the floor and, most important, computer files written on the display screen and generated on hard disk. Harden wrote, simply, that the writing was formed according to his will or his visualization in "the lightbox."

Computer-scanned images: It is reported that a photo is taken spiritside in a similar fashion to the way it is done here. The image is then read into a computer on the spiritside where it is scanned. A spiritside technician then enters it into the scanner program in the earthside computer.

Conclusions

While the declared spiritside aim of ITC is eventually to be able to circumvent the experimenters’ psyche altogether, what is in practice today appears to be a telepathically assisted instrumental communication. It appears that researchers’ beliefs, thoughts and attitudes affect ITC contacts, but to a lesser degree than during the phenomenon of "channeling." From a technical point of view, then, the ultimate aim of ITC is to develop an electronic system that will work independently of the psyches of the earthside participants, and the Luxembourg team seems to be getting close.

What do the "higher beings" hope to accomplish with ITC? According to Technician, they want everyone to know that life continues beyond physical death. For many people today, faith in age-old religious texts is not enough; they need solid evidence of an afterlife, which ITC may provide.

Is ITC real, or is there some elaborate hoax being perpetrated? In Maggy’s words, "The entities who address us through our equipment identify themselves as having passed on into the spirit world. We accept this unless someone can prove otherwise. To this day nobody has come up with another acceptable explanation. All arguments to the contrary are mostly the results of fear, frustration, ignorance or jealousy. As contacts between dimensions grow stronger, opponents’ arguments for trickery and manipulation grow weaker."

Why aren’t we hearing about the ITC phenomena in the media? For one thing, serious researchers say they don’t want to expose themselves to the harassment of the press. The benefits of a dozen fine, responsible reports could be destroyed by one sloppy or sensationalistic article. Also, they don’t want to spend time trying to convince the world of the value of ITC - its value will soon be self-evident. Finally, they don’t want to spend time trying to convince nonbelievers of the legitimacy of ITC at the expense of exposing themselves and their work to negativity introduced by closed-minded skepticism - better to work quietly until enough data are gathered to encourage wider research.

Macy, Mark. "When Dimensions Cross." Noetic Sciences Review, Vol. 25, Spring 1993, pp. 17-20. www.noetic.org/ions/archivelisting_frame.asp?ID=471 (13 Feb. 2001)