In Brief

• The Facts:

  An experiment from 1965 shows that the elicitation of alpha brain waves in one twin creates the same effect in the other who is separated from their sibling. The researchers call it "extrasensory induction."

• Reflect On:

  How much of reality is non-physical? What are the implications of phenomenon like "extrasensory induction"?

Quantum entanglement has been observed, and it’s extremely fascinating, so much so that Einstein Called it “spooky action at a distance.” Quantum entanglement occurs when two particles, in their quantum state, are separated from each other yet, when you do to something to one of them the other one does the exact same thing, regardless of what distance is between them. For example, if you “spin” one of the particles, the other one will also instantaneously start spinning. This suggests that the two, what appear to be “separate” pieces of physical matter are somehow still interconnected in some way we don’t quite yet understand yet. It might also be that information is travelling much fasting than the speed of light.

Quantum physics experiments are extremely fascinating, perplexing and hard to understand, and that’s because much of what some experiments infer are simply mind-altering and often not thought of as being possible. It’s an area that brings consciousness into play, and in some cases what some would deem to be “paranormal” type of activity, because it’s been demonstrated that consciousness, thoughts, intentions, feelings and perceptions can and do interact with physical matter at the quantum level. There is also evidence suggesting that human consciousness can interact with physical matter at classical scale levels as well.

As the Chinese Institute of Atomic Energy pointed out in 1991, in a study archived by the CIA:

“Such phenomena and paranormal abilities of the human body are unimaginable for ordinary people. Nevertheless they are really true.”

In comes parapsychology, the study of phenomena like telepathy, clairvoyance, remote viewing, distant healing, mind-body connection and more. Each all have strange yet fascinating links to quantum mechanics. Studies under the umbrella of parapsychology have yielded repeatable and statistically significant results. .

“What convinced me was just the evidence, the accumulating evidence as I worked in this field and I got to see more and more of the evidence. I visited the laboratories, even beyond where I was working to see what they were doing and I could see that they had really tight controls…And so I got convinced by the good science that I saw being done. And in fact I will say as a statistician I’ve consulted in a lot of different areas of science; the methodology and the controls on these experiments are tighter than any other area of science where I’ve worked.”  – Dr. Jessica Utts, Statistics professor at the University of California, Irvine on Remote Viewing (source)

There are thousands of different experiments and studies to choose from. One interesting experiment I recently came across comes from 1965, published by TD Duane and Thomas Behrendt from, at the time, the Department of Ophthalmology, Jefferson Medical College, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, titled “Extrasensory electroencephalographic induction between identical twins.”

They found that “alpha brain rhythms were elicited in one pair of identical twins as a result of evoking these rhythms in a conventional manner solely in the other.” The paper points out that alpha waves are experienced when subjects close their eyes, when they stare at a uniform unpatterned background, or when one sits in the dark with their eyes open. These methods produce immediate and repeatable results, which is why they were used.

The paper explains:

The twins were seated in a separate lighted rooms 6 m apart and were instructed to open and close their eyes only on command. Electrodes were inserted subcutaneously over the occipital protuberances. A standard EEG electrode was used as a ground. The amplified signals were recorded on a Beckman Dynograph and a Honeywell Visicorder. The subjects were asked to sit quietly, remain serene, and leave their eyes open except when instructed otherwise.

Extrasensory induction is the appearance without conventional elicitation of an alpha rhythm in one twin while it is being evoked under standard conditions in the other.

This means, again, what is done to one twin, like evoking an alpha brain rhythm on purpose, seemed to happen in the other twin without evoking it in the other twin.

To date (1965), extrasensory induction has been found in 2 out of 15 pairs of twins tested…To establish the validity of these findings, the tests were repeated on several different occasions. In no instances did the induction occur between unrelated subjects…Extrasensory induction of brain waves exists between individuals when they are completely separated.

Fascinating, isn’t it? The researchers drew no conclusions from the study, and obviously how this was occurring remains a completely mystery. It’s also important to emphasize that extrasensory induction did not occur in all twin pairs studied, but was only present in two sets of twins. It would be interesting to know why it didn’t occur in the other pairs, and doesn’t occur between most pairs when studied. That being said, even if there were a thousand pairs of twins studied and the phenomenon only occurred in one, it would still be quite fascinating.

Other studies have examined this phenomenon as well. One published in 2012 titled “Entangled in the womb? A pilot study on the possible psychological connectedness between identical twins with different embryonic backgrounds” brings up quantum entanglement as a possible explanation. The researchers write,

Speculations have been made that they (extrasensory induction phenomena) might be explained by quantum entanglement as a biological level. The transition from possible biological quantum effects to those causal relationships occurring at the classical level has not been researched. In view of this, it is worth noting that identical twins originally were completely physically “entangled” in one cell (one string of DNA), and it can be speculated that even this form of entanglement might create a predisposition towards such experiences. Genetic “identity” is, however, much more complex than having 100% identical DNA. First, monozygotic twins show non-identical genetic developments since different genes are activated. Second, the zygote may divide into two embryos at different time points from approximately 0-11 days after conception, thereby affecting the amount of time the two future individuals have shared the same cell bodies.

The researchers explain that “paranormal” type of feelings between twins is quite common. This is interesting, because it correlates with the physical phenomenon of electrosensory induction seen in some pairs. The researchers explain:

Telepathic-like experiences, dates back to the work of Francis Galton. Since then, many claims have been made that some twins who are physically remote from each other show a sensitivity to each other’s thoughts, emotions or actions, pains, and sensations. The authors of a major survey in the United Kingdom found that 39% of twins believed they might have “the ability to know what was happening to their partner,” and a further 15% were convinced of it. Identical twins were twice as likely as non identical twins to report these experiences. These findings were given support by a Swedish survey in which 60% of twins reported telepathy-type experiences. Furthermore, frequencies were significantly greater among identical twins and significantly related to the degree of attachment between the pairs of twins. About one-tenth of identical twins report having experiences regularly.

The study also points out that many of them feel that they have synchronous physiological experiences regularly as well.

Because significantly greater frequencies of these types of experiences have consistently been found in monozygotic twins, and because the degree of attachment was related to the frequency of such experiences, genetic kinship or social bonding may be one factor creating a predisposition for such experiences. This hypothesis is supported by the findings, based on phenomenological data from case collections and surveys in several counties, that in the vast majority of cases the content of such experiences relates to a person emotionally close to the experiment.

Another study  was published by the same researchers titled “Further possible physiological connectedness between identical twins: The London Study” if you’re interest in that.

The Takeaway

There are a number of examples of gifted people doing extraordinary things, things that are deemed impossible by mainstream academia. Perhaps what we believe about the nature of reality, or what we’ve been made to believe, prevents some minds from being open to such phenomenon, but the fact remains that it’s been studied, observed and documented at the highest levels of government for many years. You can read about examples here, here and here if interested.

The example discussed in this article are not as shocking and eye opening as some others I’ve written about, like the articles linked above.

What I find interesting are these questions: Why is most of the literature available on this subject coming from defense departments of multiple countries? Why is it that it’s studied in classified and secretive settings and not really made available or open to public scrutiny? Why are these things being studied at the highest level of government yet completely ignored and unacknowledged within academia?

I truly believe that all humans possess capabilities we are not yet aware of, and I believe this has been demonstrated quite well. In a free, open and transparent society we would be utilizing these concepts and learning more about them, simply because they seem to be a natural part of the human being’s curiosity. Study in these fields can truly expand human consciousness.

That being said, I don’t believe that human beings are operating from a place within ourselves to truly expand our minds enough to use some of the paranormal abilities often discussed. Our general day to day culture can be quite distracting. Further, the collective, in some sense, craves power, service to self, and the desire to advance oneself in a materialistically inclined way, we are not all operating from the level of consciousness to truly be responsible with these ‘abilities’ present in our human experience.

It’s like technology, we can use it to make weapons, make money, not share it, or use it for the collective good. It’s a choice, but what drives our choices? It’s not our abilities or technology that can create change, it’s the level of consciousness we operate from and the place from within we implement these solutions, not the solutions themselves.

At the end of the day, we are all connected in more ways than one.