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psychic experiments that explored the “sending” aspects of consciousness, or the potential to interact with matter via our intuitive faculties, which is sometimes called
psychokinesis
. To explore the sending, or expressive, aspect of consciousness, SRI researchers assembled instruments from one of the finest engineering and research laboratories in the world. Arange of experimental apparatus was set up for me to interact with, and learn from, over a period of several years. In one experiment, I was able to move a clock pendulum, sitting at rest, while a laser beam registered and recorded the movement on a strip-chart recorder. In a second experiment, I engaged a “frozen” electrical field by interacting with a sensor placed inside a canister of extremely cold, liquid helium while the interactions were registered on a strip-chart recorder, sometimes far outside the “noise level” or random variation of the system. In a third experiment, I “pressed” on a highly sensitive scale that was locked in another room and connected to a strip-chart recorder that registered any motion.
    Unlike the highly controlled remote viewing experiments, the psychokinesis experiments were largely exploratory and informal. With the more relaxed laboratory conditions, I would spend several hours at a time exploring my intuitive connection with the experimental apparatus. My primary motivation was to understand how the cosmos worked—and the feedback was powerful and convincing. As I learned through trial and error over a period of nearly three years, I received striking evidence that we all participate in a subtle though powerful ecology of consciousness.
    I took away a number of important insights from these diverse experiments in what might be called “cosmic feedback training.” First, we
all
have an intuitive faculty and literal connection with the universe. An empathic connection with the cosmos is not restricted to a gifted few, it is an ordinary part of the functioning of the universe and is accessible to everyone.
    Second, participating in these experiments demonstrated to me that our being does not stop at the edge of our skin but extends into and is inseparable from the universe. We are
all
connected with the deep ecology of the universe and each of us has the ability to extendour consciousness far beyond the range of our physical senses. I am reminded of the wisdom of George Washington Carver, a great educator and botanical researcher, who said that “If you love it enough, anything will talk with you.”
    Third, our intuitive connection with the cosmos is easy to overlook. Before I became involved in these experiments, I didn’t pay much attention to the small, intuitive twinges and feelings that would arise and then pass away. They seemed so subtle that I assumed they were simply part of my bodily experience. Only gradually did I come to appreciate the extent to which I was experiencing my participation in a larger field of aliveness.
    Fourth, I learned that psi functioning is not about achieving dominance over something (mind
over
matter) but rather learning to participate with something in a dance of mutual exchange and transformation. This is a two-way process in which both parties are changed by the interaction.
    Fifth, at the same time these experiments were convincing me that consciousness is a field property of the universe, they also made me much more skeptical about the need for channeling, crystals, pendulums, pyramids, and other intermediaries to access our intuition. Validating consciousness as a basic property of the universe does not automatically validate all claims of paranormal phenomena. It is important to bring a critical and discerning science to this inquiry. We are just beginning to use the tools of science to cut away the superstition and find what is real and what is not. Our universe is a place of miracles, but it is not a place of magic. It is a miracle