FEATURE STORY Page 8 Skip Atwater Origins of the Ft. Meade RV Program The Interview, continued There are some who say remote viewing hasn't really lived up to it's potential in the civilian world. No one is finding missing children, solving crimes, finding treasure, a lot of the skeptics haven't even been convinced it works. How can we all do better? My personal experience with military remote-viewing surveillance objectively demonstrated the veracity of a process I had been experiencing throughout my life. There was a greater cultural impact too. Through Star Gate—two Presidents, members of the National Security Council, CIA, FBI, etc., and numerous military and civilian government personnel discovered that what we know and experience is not bound by the confines of our physical perceptions. Our very being extends beyond the physical body in a very real way. The impact of this realization continues to grow as more and more people are uncovering the details of the government-sponsored work in remote viewing. Today hundreds of people are learning how to do remote viewing through a variety of techniques. The International Remote Viewing Association (IRVA.org) organized by selected scientists and practitioners, encourages scientifically sound research, provides ethical standards, and offers overview educational information to the public. This widespread interest in a consciousness-expanding discipline reflects a basic realization by individuals of their own true spiritual identity and a cultural desire for reconnecting with the spiritual foundation of humanity. My experiences with remote viewing have become a past-life experience, a part of my life rapidly becoming another remember-when story imprinted in the retreating memories of my mind. Over the years as I have talked with people about remote viewing, some have reacted with indignant disapproval, others with skepticism, and others with enthusiasm. Some are seriously interested and wish to get to the bottom of it (whatever that means). These varying reactions seem to be the result of differing educational backgrounds, of spiritual or peak experiences in their own lives, of their level of openness to new information, etc. In the course of their lives people don't necessarily maintain one certain concept of the world (or opinion about remote viewing). Experience changes and shapes ways of thinking, our very concept of reality. Over the years some with whom I have spoken have changed. Those with a materialistic perspective disregard the notion of remote viewing because of the incapacity of proving objective mechanisms responsible for the observed effects. Those representing this perspective deem remote viewing impossible from the start. They therefore search for causes that might explain the phenomena. They suppose deceit, sleight of hand, or mistakes by the experimenter. A physicalist perspective holds remote viewing to be possible as either conscious or unconscious mental processes in the living human being. Extra-dimensional considerations of the phenomena are discarded as lacking compulsory proof. Numerous protocols are invoked to demonstrate the efficacy of remote viewing. Statistical models, behavioral profiles, double-blind cueing, analytical techniques, etc. are the calling cards of these “true believers.” The spiritualistic (not meaning holy) approach is open to the possibility that remote viewing represents our own multidimensional nature and that reality is more than our physical senses tell us. I have found that many who publicly avow a physicalist perspective are closet spiritualists, especially the ones who are psychically experiential themselves. This group endeavors to improve remote-viewing methods and techniques with the aim of getting better and more frequent “hits” demonstrating their abilities. Additionally, these particular “true believers” want to develop different applications for remote viewing, i.e., remote medical diagnosis and healing or early warning of imminent danger of future events. In their enthusiasm this group is easily seduced into putting aside due caution and a critical view on themselves. They neglect to test the validity of individual remote-viewing sessions and run the risk of getting tangled in dependence and an irrational belief in their own remote viewing skills. Some consider trivialities or contradictory absurdities to be the “ultimate truth” and may even announce the said “truths” as doctrine. In so doing, the legitimate endeavors for responsible remote viewing may be discredited. An ethical or conscientious approach to all this takes into account the reasonable aspects of all the above approaches. The materialistic perspective advocates guarding against deceit and trickery by unscrupulous practitioners. (Some would say that any government involvement is unscrupulous by definition.) The physicalist approach points out that our unconscious minds may be a repository for remote-viewing information and that careful scientific investigation of the phenomenon may help us understand our boundless perceptual abilities. The spiritualistic viewpoint suggests that reality itself is greater than we know and that we truly are more than our physical bodies. Is remote viewing real? Those who research the field may come to convince themselves of its veracity based on the accumulating scientific evidence of the psychic phenomena. Psychologically however, these well-meaning truth seekers remain protected by a defense mechanism. They can always escape back into their old belief systems under the guise that all the research is bogus and that it couldn't possibly be true. I, however, do not have the luxury of this psychological safe haven. I was the Operations Officer for the Star Gate remote viewing unit. I controlled the protocols and information overtly available to the remote viewers. I know, because I was there, that there was no fraud. Remote viewing is real. It works. To me, the value of remote viewing lies not in so-called practical applications like performing services for business, industry, government, and science; or aiding in the recovery of lost children, assisting the FBI on kidnap cases, or helping to fight terrorism; or even contacting UFOs or spiritual beings. The value of remote viewing rests with the experience itself. Remote viewing is like stopping to smell the flowers, drinking a goblet of fine vintage wine, or making love. Through experience we become who we are. Through remote viewing we realize (make real) the true nature of ourselves as sentient beings. If remote viewing is going to be part of my future it will be to serve in some way to promote increased first-person experiences of remote viewing and the discovery of who we are as human beings and the meaning that has for humankind. Skip Atwater Page 9 Privacy Statement Copyright © 2001, H.R.V.G. All rights reserved.

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