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Levitation

Levitation is speculated to work through a decrease of personal gravitational force or through the manipulation of electromagnetism, resulting in repulsion and propulsion. Some cases of levitation appear to be spontaneous, although there is the ability to control it consciously. Levitation of objects, as a beginning technique, comes from frequency awareness and distribution. Levitation of objects can also be aided through the usage of a vibrating and condensed sound field, or with grouping various sounds, to nullify gravitation. To levitate the body via manipulating gravity, the body is emitting a metaphysical command, which forces gravitons away from the body. This is not an ability of propulsion in this case, but rather the repulsion of gravitons. To levitate objects, or the self, through the electromagnetic force, would be repulsion through an electromagnetic field between the body and the conductive surface upon which the body is placed. (See Telekinesis for more information). [1]


Etymology

Levitation (from Latin levare, to raise)[citation needed] is the process by which an object is suspended against gravity, in a stable position, without physical contact.


Explanations of How Levitation Could Possibly Occur

Some physicists think that levitation, if it can be scientifically confirmed, could be the result of the mind “tapping into” the zero point energy in an altered state of consciousness. [1] [2] Some scientists think that fine structures in the neurons called microtubules are capable of tapping into quantum mechanical processes and performing quantum computation, [3] [4] which could possibly provide a means of tapping into the zero point energy.


Various Views Concerning Levitation

Of course, as with all paranormal events, cases of levitation are hotly disputed; traditionally the scientific and empiricist communities attribute such incidents to trickery, illusion, auto-suggestion, unseen natural causes, or most frequently simply deny the existence of any such phenomenon. On the other hand, spiritualists and religious communities tend to interpret metaphysical levitation as the supernatural action of the Holy Spirit, a God, a poltergeist, psychokinesis, or some other being or force within their own belief system. Spiritualists or yogis however almost always claim that metaphysical levitation occurs during altered state, such as mysticism rapture or ecstasy, demonic possession, trance or channeling.

The lack of respect for paranormal science among the empiricist scientific world means that controlled-condition testing of the phenomenon is extremely limited, further perpetuating the controversy. There is no compelling evidence to suggest that it is a real phenomenon, but for some isolated cases, such as that of Daniel Dunglas Home, contemporary observers found no uncontroversial naturalistic explanations. It seems to be a very pervasive belief around the world, occurring in almost all major world religions and shamanic religions, though this neither adds to nor detracts to the case for its existence.


Claimed Examples of Levitation

Examples of some people who it is claimed have been able to levitate are listed below.


Mystical Levitation in Hinduism

  • In Hinduism, it is believed that some Hindu gurus who have become siddhas (those who have achieved spiritual powers) have the siddhi (power) of being able to levitate. The power of levitation is called in Sanskrit[5] laghiman (lightness) [6] or dardura-siddhi (the frog power) [7]. Hindu Fakirs have a history of paranormal levitation, which is active, rather than passive as in Christian mysticism. It is performed with the aid of a staff, though this does not have to touch the ground, or in a lotus position.

Louis Jacolliot wrote in Sciences in India and Among the Ancients’ (1884):

“Taking an ironwood cane which I had brought from Ceylon, he leaned heavily upon it, resting his right hand upon the handle with his eyes fixed upon the ground. He the proceeded to utter the appropriate incantations…[and] rose gradually about two feet from the ground. His legs were crossed beneath him, and he made no change in his position, which was very like that of those bronze statues of Buddha…For more than twenty minutes I tried to see how (he) could thus fly in the face and eyes of all known laws of gravity…the stick gave him no visible support, and there was no apparent contact between that and his body, except through his right hand.”

Levitation is said to be possible by mastering the Hindu philosophy of yoga:

  • Yogi Subbayah Pullavar, was reported to have levitated into the air for four minutes in front of a crowd of 150 witnesses, June 6th, 1936. He was seen suspended horizontally several feet above the ground, in a trance, lightly resting his hand on top of a cloth covered stick. Pullavar’s arms and legs could not be bent from their locked position once on the ground.
  • Shirdi Sai Baba an Indian yogi is described in the Sri Sai Satcharitra to have mastered the art of levitation while sleeping.
  • It was claimed by Maharishi Mahesh Yogi that those who assiduously practiced transcendental meditation could gain the ability to levitate by a technique called yogic flying. However, practitioners of transcendental mediation, when quizzed, invariably report that the supposed “levitation” is actually a kind of bouncing while meditating on rubbery cushions and that no actual levitation has taken place.

Mystical Levitation in Buddhism

  • It is recounted as one of the Miracles of Buddha that Gautama Buddha walked on water by levitating over a stream in order to convert a brahman to Buddhism. [8]
  • Yogi Milarepa, a Vajrayana Buddhist guru, was rumored to have possessed a range of additional abilities during levitation, such as the ability to walk, rest and sleep, however such were deemed as occult powers.

Mystical Levitation in Hellenism

  • It was believed in Hellenism (the pagan religion of Ancient Greece and Ancient Rome) on the testimony of Philostratus that upon his death, Apollonius of Tyana underwent heavenly assumption by levitating into Elysium. [9

Mystical Levitation in Gnosticism

  • Simon Magus, a Gnostic who claimed to be an incarnation of God (as conceived by the Gnostics) reportedly had the ability to levitate, along with many other magical powers. As a dissenter from the orthodox Christianity of the time, this was branded by Christians as evil magic and attributed to demonic powers.

Mystical Levitation in Christianity

  • In the New Testament, one of the miracles attributed to Jesus, it is claimed, is that Jesus of Nazareth had the ability to walk on water by levitating. It is also claimed in the New Testament that Jesus ascended into heaven by levitating.
  • St Joseph of Cupertino (Mystic, born 17 June, 1603; died at Osimo 18 September, 1663; feast, 18 September.) reportedly levitated high in the air, for extended periods of more than an hour, on many occasions.
  • St Teresa of Avila (born in Avila, Spain, March 28, 1515.She died in Alba, October 4, 1582.) claimed to have levitated at a height of about a foot and a half for an extended period somewhat less than an hour, in a state of mystical rapture. She called the experience a ‘spiritual visitation’.
  • Catherine of Siena (1347-1380), levitation in states of ecstasy.
  • Hadewijch of Antwerp Flemish Catholic mystica (first half 13th century) is said to have levitated in state of trance.
  • Saint Philip of Neri (Born at Florence, Italy, 22 July, 1515; died 27 May, 1595.) supposedly went up several yards during prayer, even to the ceiling on occasion.
  • Ignatius Loyola (Born in 1491 at the castle of Loyola above Azpeitia in Guipuscoa, Spain; died at Rome, 31 July, 1556.) is said to have not only raised several feet but became luminous in the process.
  • Saint Robert de Palentin allegedly levitated eighteen or twenty inches.
  • Saint Dunstan (Probably his birth dates from about the earliest years of the tenth century.) supposedly rose off the ground a little bit just before his death.
  • St. John of the Cross (b. at Hontoveros, Old Castile,Spain 24 June, 1542; d. at Ubeda, Andalusia, 14 Dec., 1591)
  • And, at the beginning of the twentieth century Gemma Galgani, a Passionist nun, reported levitating during rapture.
  • Saint Martín de Porres (December 9, 1579–November 3, 1639) To help Martin serve the poor and needy, God blessed him with miraculous powers of bilocation, of being able to pass through closed doors (teleportation), and of levitation, according to Alban Butler’s Lives of the Saints.

So called “Demonic” Levitation in Christianity:

  • Clara Germana Cele, a young South African girl, in 1906 reportedly levitated in a rigid position. The effect was apparently only reversed by the application of Holy water, leading to belief that it was caused by demonic possession.
  • Magdalena de la Cruz (1487-1560), a Franciscan nun of Cordova,Spain.
  • Girolamo Savonarola, sentenced to death,allegedly rose off the floor of his cell into midair and remained there for some time.

Levitation by Mediums

  • Many mediums have levitated during séances, especially in the 19th century in Britain and America, however some where proven to be frauds using wires and stage magic tricks.
  • Daniel Dunglas Home, the most prolific and well documented levitator of himself and other objects was said to repeatedly defy gravity over a career of forty years. He was reputedly observed levitating out of a building through a third story window and back into the building via a different window. He could also cause tables and chairs to raise feet into the air, and was never demonstrated to be a fraud by hundreds of purportedly sceptical witnesses and tests. He remained in full consciousness throughout these feats, and attributed them to the action of some kind of magical energy. [10] Home’s fame grew, fuelled by his feats of levitation. Physicist William Crookes claimed to have observed more than 50 occasions in which Home levitated, many of these at least five to seven feet above the floor, “in good light.”[11] More common were feats recorded by Frank Podmore: “We all saw him rise from the ground slowly to a height of about six inches, remain there for about ten seconds, and then slowly descend.”[12] One of Home’s levitations occurred in 1868. In front of three witnesses (Adare, Captain Wynne, and Lord Lindsay) Home was said to have levitated out of the third storey window of one room, and in at the window of the adjoining room.[13]

Controlled Experiments Into Levitation

The only somewhat compelling and thorough case of controlled scientific tests performed recently were those of Nina Kulagina, a Russian ‘psychokinetic’, in the 1960s. She demonstrated the power to levitate small objects repeatedly in conditions which satisfied Russian, Czech, and American scientists, although she never levitated herself. She levitated objects such as table tennis balls, wine glasses, and matches in conditions engineered to make the use of hidden magnets, wires, and similar “tricks” seem impossible. However, two things should be taken into consideration: first, these feats are commonly reproduced onstage by illusionists,and,second, scientists can be fooled by tricks of skillful magicians – as was proven by James Randi’s Project Alpha in 1979. In fact, Kulagina’s use of a stick was actually photographed by parapsychologists. But those parapsychologists did not wish to believe she was a fraud and called the appearance of the stick ectoplasma.


Levitation in Religion

  • It is believed that Gautama Buddha walked on water by levitating over a stream in order to convert a brahman to Buddhism. [14]
  • Based on the New Testament, it is believed in Christianity that since Jesus Christ was the Son of God he had miraculous powers which included the ability to levitate by walking on water and that he ascended into heaven 40 days after his resurrection by levitating.
  • It is believed by the adherents of the Ascended Master Teachings (a group of New Age religions based on Theosophy) that the Ascended Masters have the ability to levitate.

Levitation in Physics

For levitation on Earth, first, a force is required directed vertically upwards and equal to the gravitational force, second, for any small displacement of the levitating object, a returning force should appear to stabilize it. The stable levitation can be naturally achieved by, for example magnetic or aerodynamic forces. With the former, it is essential that diamagnetic elements are used. In this case the returning force appears from the interaction with the screening currents. For example, a superconducting sample, which can be considered either as a perfect diamagnet or an ideally hard superconductor, easily levitates an ambient external magnetic field. In very strong magnetic field, by means of diamagnetic levitation even small live animals have been levitated. The stable levitation of electrically charged objects of magnets in a static electromagnetic field is not possible (the Earnshaw’s theorem) without a feedback interaction, which can be realized by means of electronics (see the levitating Globe [2], for example).

By means of aerodynamic forces, the effect of levitation can also be achieved using the upthrust of air, with the levitating object having the same average density as air.

Scientists have discovered a way of levitating ultra small objects by manipulating the so-called Casimir force, which normally causes objects to stick together by quantum force. This practice however, is only possible for micro-objects.[3][4]


References

  1. Kelly, Dr. Theresa M.(2008) Quantum Psychics – Scientifically Understand, Enhance and Control Your Psychic Ability,
    Charleston, South Carolina USA (ISBN: 978-0-557-03403-1).
  2. The Levitating Globe
  3. Levitation in Miniature, Null Hypothesis

References (2)

  1. Toben, Bob, in conversation with physicists Jack Sarfatti and Fred Alan Wolf Space-Time and Beyond New York:1975 E.P. Dutton Page 81 (diagram) and pages 125-159 (explanation)
  2. Krauss, Lawrence M. Beyond Star Trek:Physics from Alien Invasions to the End of Time New York:1997 Basic Books (A Division of Harper Collins) Pages 124-132 Krauss describes the amount of energy in watts needed to levitate various objects and the number of cubic meters of empty space (the source of the zero point energy) that one would have to tap into the zero point energy from in order to perform these feats (assuming, which Krauss himself does not maintain, that the zero point energy was the source energy being used for levitation).
  3. Kurzweil, Ray The Singularity is Near: When Humans Transcend Biology New York:2005 Viking Page 450
  4. Penrose, Roger Shadows of the Mind: The Search for the Missing Science of Consciousness New York:1996 Oxford University Press [1]
  5. Bowker, John (editor) The Oxford Dictionary of World Religions Oxford, England, U.K.:1997 Oxford University Press Page 576 Names for levitation in Sanskrit
  6. Bowker, John (editor) The Oxford Dictionary of World Religions Oxford, England, U.K.:1997 Oxford University Press Page 567
  7. Bowker, John (editor) The Oxford Dictionary of World Religions Oxford, England, U.K.:1997 Oxford University Press Page 259
  8. Schulberg, Lucille Historic India (Great Ages of Man: A History of the World’s Cultures) 1968:New York Time Inc. Page 69–Stone bas relief depicting the levitation of Buddha
  9. Hornblower, Simon and Spawforth, Antony, editors The Oxford Classical Dictionary Third Edition Oxford/New York: 1996 Oxford University Press–Article on Apollonius of Tyana Page 128
  10. Mishlove, Jeffrey The Roots of Consciousness: Psychic Liberation Through History, Science and Experience Co-Published by: New York:1975—Random House and Berkeley, California:1975 –The Bookworks Page 73
  11. Doyle “The History of Spiritualism” volume 1, 1926 p196
  12. Podmore “Mediums of the Nineteenth Century, Part 1.” 2003 p254
  13. Doyle “The History of Spiritualism” volume 1, 1926 pp196-197
  14. Schulberg, Lucille Historic India (Great Ages of Man: A History of the World’s Cultures) 1968:New York Time Inc. Page 69–Stone bas relief depicting the levitation of Buddha
  15. Krauss, Lawrence M. Beyond Star Trek:Physics from Alien Invasions to the End of Time New York:1997 Basic Books (A Division of Harper Collins) Page 124

Further Reading

  1. Kelly, Dr. Theresa M.(2008) Quantum Psychics – Scientifically Understand, Enhance and Control Your Psychic Ability,
    Charleston, South Carolina USA (ISBN: 978-0-557-03403-1).

External links