(1) The
Miracle of Prayer,
by Rosemary Ellen Guiley, Ph.D., pages 49-54, Pocket Books, 1995.
(Dr. Guiley includes an
overview of Spindrift's history.)
(2) Recovering
the Soul: a Scientific and Spiritual
Search, by Larry Dossey, M.D., pages
54-62 and 77-78, Bantam
Books, 1989. (Dossey describes the Spindrift prayer experiments
on plants.)
(3) Healing
Words, by Larry Dossey, M.D., pages 85-87, 97-100,
104, and 164-165, Harper Collins,
1993. (Dossey includes
over one hundred researchers' tests of prayer and Spindrift's.)
(4) Prayer
Is Good Medicine, by Larry Dossey,
M.D., Harper Collins, 1996. (Dossey focuses on
Spindrift's philosophy
and theory throughout this text.)
(5) Be
Careful What You Pray For...You Just
Might Get It, by Larry Dossey, M.D.,
pages 9,
145, and 154, Harper,
1997. (Dossey gives insights into "evil intentions" creeping into prayer.)
(6) Where
God Lives, page 118, by Dr. Melvin Morse.
In a section entitled "Dissecting Prayer,"
Dr. Morse writes:
(7) Embracing Our Essence: Spiritual Conversations with Prominent Women,The Spindrift Research Group in Oregon found that rye seed that was prayed over germinated more quickly than seed that was not prayed over. They then explored whether asking for a specific end result in a prayer was better or worse than simply asking for God's will to be done. They concluded that the most effective prayers were the ones that merely asked for God's presence.Here's what the Spindrift Research Group had to say about the workings of prayer:
'Scientifically, it is shocking to think of a force as intelligent, loving, kind, good, and aware of needs. But each test prayer somehow linked to a loving intelligence moved the seeds towards their norms.'
Their findings, that a non directed approach to prayer works best, fits with my theory that prayer can bring an organism into closer harmony with its universal pattern.
(8) The Power of the Mind to Heal, by Joan Borysenko, Ph.D. and Miroslav Borysenko, Ph.D.,It's better to pray for the best outcome to happen in that situation whatever it is, and for all to have the strength of mind and the love in their hearts to be able to let go and let God.It's best to pray by holding in our minds a pure and holy consciousness of whatever or whomever we're praying for. This is what Spindrift, a scientific organization that studies prayer, calls non directed prayer--as opposed to directed prayer, which specifies a desired outcome.
(9) Fire
in the Soul: A New Psychology
of Spiritual Optimism, by Joan Borysenko,
pages
182-184, and 233,
Warner Books, Inc., 1993. (Dr. Joan Borysenko does an excellent job
of
describing what
was accomplished at the Spindrift laboratories in Illinois and Oregon.)
Here is an excerpt from Fire in the Soul.
(10) Making Miracles, by psychologist Paul Pearsall, pages 137-139, Prentice Hall Press, 1991.There is a non-sectarian foundation in Salem, Oregon, called Spindrift whose purpose is to carry out experiments on the efficacy of prayer. ...Spindrift is listed in the resources section at the end of this book [doesn't have current address; use website for contact]. You can also read an excellent review of the Spindrift studies in Dr. Larry Dossey's fine book Recovering the Soul, which outlines the Spindrift findings on the most effective ways to pray [found on pages 52-64].As Dr. Dossey reports, the Spindrift research is based on [John Klingbeil's] underlying assumption that all of us have "divine attributes, a qualitative oneness with God." In their early research, Spindrift investigated the power of prayer to restore the vitality to seeds that were [stressed] by being soaked in salt water.
The seeds were planted in a shallow container of vermiculite, divided by a string into side A and side B. Following prayer for one side or the other, the seedlings were counted. In many repetitions of the study, the prayed-for side sprouted significantly more seedlings than the "untreated" side. ...
As a result of these studies, Spindrift suggests that we pray by holding in our minds a "pure and holy" consciousness of whomever and whatever we are praying for. ... This type of prayer does not specify an outcome. It does not demand that a sick person be made well or that a poor person become rich. It only blesses the person with wholeness in the understanding that our sight is too narrow to know what a person requires for their wholeness, but that God certainly knows.
(11) Research
in Healing, Volume One:
Holistic Energy Medicine and Spirituality,
by Daniel
J. Benor, M.D., pages 142, 285-287, and 352, Helix Editions Ltd. United
Kingdom,
1992.
(Through persistent networking Dr. Benor, a psychiatrist integrating local
and nonlocal
distant
healing in his practice of psychotherapy, chronicles and summarizes over
1500 references
to spiritual
healing research from around the world. Volume Two will cover Holistic
Energy
Medicine
and the Energy Body. Volume Three will cover Research in Spiritual
Healing.
Volume
Four will cover Healing in the Light of Recent Research. Dr. Benor
can be reached
by e-mail
at danbenor@erols.com. Coming
soon -- Healing
Research, Volume I, Revised
edition Spiritual Healing: Scientific Validation
of a Healing Revolution,
by Daniel
J. Benor,
M.D., Southfield, MI: Vision Publications (in press).)
(12) The
Second Coming of Science: an Intimate
Report on the New Science,
by Brian
O’Leary, Ph.D., pages 80-84, 86-87, 151, North Atlantic Books, Berkeley,
California,
1992.
(A former U.S. astronaut, Dr. O’Leary found his mind dwelling on ways to
merge
spirituality
with paranormal phenomena within an open-minded theoretical and experimental
framework
designated as “New Science.” His book explains several theories and
speculations
about
how consciousness works in human beings. Spindrift's theories are
included.)
(13) Miracle
in the Void, by NASA astronaut Brian
O’Leary, Ph.D., Kamapua’a Press, 1996.
(Includes
a photograph of the Klingbeils. Spindrift is mentioned on pages 45,
77, 78, 85, 116,
124,
126, 130, 163, 165, 168, 188, 189, and 208.)
(14) How
to Pray: Tapping Into the Power
of Divine Communication, by
Helene
Ciaravino, pages 25, 27-29, and 212. Square One Publishers, 2001.
(An excellent book
discussing prayer including several Spindrift experiments and conclusions
about prayer.)
Ms. Ciaravino makes an important point on page 24.
(15) Body and Soul: Your Guide to Health, Happiness and Total Well-being,Clearly, scientific research into prayer is only in its infancy. In the coming years, we can look forward to further studies on the power of prayer and spirituality.
(16) Ikigaino
Sozo, a Japanese book by Mr. Humihiko Iida has
ten pages about the Spindrift
prayer
experiments.
(17) The
Celestine Vision, by James Redfield, pages
66 and 67, Warner Books, Inc., 1997.
(The
author relates the results of the various experiments without mentioning
the Spindrift
Research
Foundation by name.)
(18) The
Spindrifters: Pioneers of Prayer in
the Laboratory, by B. William Sweet,
no publication
date. (The author details Spindrift's theories, experiments, and
the antagonism
the
Spindrift founders received for attempting to experiment scientifically
with prayer. The
book
lets the reader answer the question, "Is testing prayer of Satan or Science?"
The book
offers
new information on how to build communication links between science, theology,
and
medicine.)
Here is an excerpt from Pioneers of Prayer.
(19) Spiritual Marketing, by Joe Vitale, page 108, 1st Books www.1stbooks.com, 2001.I mentioned to Bruce Klingbeil that among the people I knew, most were interested in the huge miraculous healings, the big scores, not the smaller effects of healing brought out in the Spindrift tests. Bruce told me that the point was, 'Even though the healing-results from our tests are modest [in comparison to so-called miracle healings], once having seen controlled tests of thought and prayer, society might start thinking of reasons to test prayer on healing.'
(20) Modern
Buddhist Healing: A Spiritual Strategy
for Transforming Pain, Dis-Ease,
& Death,
by Charles Atkins, page 47, Nicolas-Hays, Inc., 2002. (Charles Atkins
praises
Spindrift's efforts. In his experiences with meditation using Nam-myoho-renge-kyo
[which is a distinction from Zen], Mr. Atkins has found
"mantra-powered
visualization"
internalized within the body to be better than open-ended prayer.)
(21) The Power of Flow, by Charlene Belitz & Meg Lundstrom, page 160, Harmony Books, 1997. (A Spindrift finding is mentioned without mentioning the Spindrift name.)
* The Findhorn Foundation
is one organization best known for its work with the power
of spiritual
energy on plant growth. Click below for reaching the Findhorn Foundation
in Scotland.
www.findhorn.org